The Private Journal of Fireraven Hollowheart

*Notes: Rough draft, will be edited.*

Copyright John Barnett 2008-2009

May 6, 2000

I can not explain why I am so suddenly compelled to write I haven't picked up a journal in many years but perhaps time will tell as to the reason, if there be any, for this odd compulsion of mine.

I should probably note that the American South West is one of the strangest places I have yet to be within the span of my life. Never since my days in Salem watching their infamous witch trials have I ever seen such a massive convergence of over zealous religious heretics. The hospitality down here is as great as rumored though, I wish I could say more for the region but that is so far the only bright part I have discovered since my week here.

The people here are so nice at least to one's face, but I will detail this statement further on. Preachers' families openly take needy passerby in, it almost makes me feel sorry for them when I drain them as they sleep, but as I said almost. Cases such as last night are actually all that keep me from being too much of a bleeding heart to drain these kind hearted folk, my gods I'm starting to write like they talk...

Indeed it would be hard to sustain myself if they were as perfect as their facades appear. The family at who's table I am currently writing this was a seemingly happy, kindred, giving sort of one. The children, a brother and sister, helped lead a flourishing small town youth ministry, the Father a regionally renowned preacher, and the mother a seemingly quaint home maker. I know it is odd for a vampire to sympathize with religious types especially Christians but I do with hose whom are truly devout, and these people seemed to be just that. They were humble appearing and openly gave to anyone who such needed it, as they did to me when they saw me walking down a road in their town carrying nothing but a bag of clothes and dressed in some dusty old fashioned cowboy clothes.

They took me in for the night, fed me (though I do not require such sustenance I humored them), and did quite well to keep me peacefully entertained. In fact their facade was so well put up that after the nightly church service I didn't believe I'd be able to drain them, that soon changed after they went to bed.

I had decided to wait until about one to feed, by the time of this decision I had decided to take my feeding to another house. As one neared I heard foot steps seemingly going from the brother's to the sister's room followed by what sounded like a light struggle followed by an eery silence. Intrigued I silently walked from my room towards hers, only to find the door locked. Deciding not to cause a ruckus I simply made myself thin and slipped through the crack of the door. Once inside to my utter dismay I found the sister bound and gagged on the bed sobbing face down as her brother, facing away from me, was raping her. Disgusted I stealthily walked behind her brother and with one swift movement snapped his neck like a twig and drained him, leaving him on the floor when I finished.

Turning to the sister who was still sobbing on the bed and I can only assume had assumed that her brother had merely finished abruptly and left I turned her towards me. Fearfully she gazed into my eyes with a look that seemed to convey that she knew I was going to do the same to her as had her brother. However, much to the contrary I simply whispered sleep now young child and placing my hand over her eyes she passed out in a spell.

Wearily I turned my attention to their parents and made my way to their room. I made little effort in draining and killing the father as he slept without waking the mother. However, when I turned my attention to the mother she awoke as my mouth touched the hypersensitive skin of her neck. Quickly she placed a finger to my mouth and bade me to go with her quietly to the guest room and not wake her husband, who unknown to her at this time was already dead. Knowing this would
be interesting I conceded and we went silently back into the guest room.
Once inside she flung herself upon me, kissing me and telling me her husband was unable to fulfill her wild desires and that she needed the touch of a real man. Seeing little harm in this venture I let her continue and once I had satisfied myself and she was within the enthralls of our physical ecstasy I bit her neck and drained her as her body was convulsing and shaking still, making sure to snap her neck swiftly as I did so, like I had done the father and son, so as not to turn her and to ensure she died humanely letting the wondrous feeling she was experiencing carry her soul happily to the other side.

At this point the only problem left was the daughter. In fact as I sit here writing this I am still unsure what to do with her, and seeing as she is still asleep I can not come to a decision yet.

Hark! Something stirs it must be her awakening from the slumber. I believe I shall write the outcome later.


May 6, 2000. Continued.

I must make haste in writing this entry, but I will skip as little detail as possible, as there have been some interesting developments, shall I say involving the girl, whom I shall now identify as nothing more than Jane Doe lest I lose this journal and someone who's eyes were not meant to see such knowledge find it.

I had made much haste back to the room and found the girl still bound and in quite a panic. (It should probably be noted that I left her that way so that in case she awoke in a frenzied state that she would not have an opportunity to run out the door and compromise my position or identity.) As I made my way towards her she cringed and moved towards the wall that her bed touched defensively. In an attempt to calm her or at least gain some of her trust I spread my hands from my sides my open palms facing her and continued my slow, methodical walk towards her stooping beside her bed and looking her dead in the eye. Seeing this, as I had feared, had little effect in diminishing her fear I began to speak slowly but firmly with the girl.

"Jane, I need you to trust me here. I do not wish to harm you." She began to almost panic as I said this and I began to feel the immense despairing fear begin to flow through her aura greatly intensifying my fears in this already very tense situation. "Please, understand I want to help you if I can. Your life here is over as you know it, but I have something of great significance to offer unto you." Her face began to soften as a look of bewildered confusion ran over her, I knew I was getting through to her, but the question still remained of how much she could believe me.

"Come child, and let me unbind you so that we may talk and discuss things yet to come," with a fearful sort of hesitation she allowed me to and as I was unbinding her hands I said as encouragingly as I could, " and anyways if I had truly wanted to hurt you I'd of had more than plenty of time to do so before now." At that statement she actually relaxed it seemed as if a weight had been lifted from her and much to my complete and utter shock she actually fell back into my arms and rested her head against my chest, and I instinctively wrapped my arms around her waist holding her somewhat tightly. I remember distinctly blushing at this, though I doubt I'll ever admit doing so to another living soul.

At this we began to calmly speak, I told her of what had transpired within her house the night before. How I had saved her from the ravishing of her brother, which she said she had already known, and of how I killed her mother and father, only leaving out the exact details of what happened between her mother and I. This left her almost completely unchanged, almost disturbingly so for me. In fact I was beginning to become quite unnerved myself thinking she was quite possibly plotting against me when she spoke up with news that only further shocked me as to the evils of her family. I wish I could remember her exact words to quote her but they're slipping me at the moment, hopefully my memory will grow better with practice but for my ease and time's sake this brief description shall have to suffice.

She told me of how not only her brother but her father had abused her in such a way from an early age. Her mother had known all along, and had even joined in at times. Once her brother had turned of age they brought him into the mix. The relations she described were very perverse and in all honesty turned my stomach greatly. Actually, forget even the suggestion of me quoting this I do not ever wish to recall it.

After this discussion as she lay sobbing in my arms from the emotional breakdown of reliving such disturbing memories than I had ever wanted to know of, I began to speak to her of the dark gift. Yes, Vampyrism.

I explained to her that she could make a new life either for herself or with me living for the potential of eternity. She eagerly took to this idea, this was yet another thing about her that shocked me seeing as most people I've turned took far more convincing. However, these were not normal circumstances. I told her how the process would take three days after I drank from her, at which point she would die and after sunset rise again and be the same as I. Immediately she pointed out the oddity in the correspondence with this process and the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and I pointed out that it was closer to satyric irony than anything else due to the fact that he died and then three days later rose again, and in this process you die for three days finally completely dying upon the third and reviving upon the night of the third day.

At this we embarked. I have agreed to keep her asleep for the three day process, she feels this will make her closer to her god in someway so I will amuse her. When I was putting her to sleep she amused me even further by asking if Jesus was a zombie, I assume this was her way of attempting to laugh off her nervousness.

For now however the deed is done. I shall remain in this house for three days watching over her and dispose of her family in the mean time.

May 7, 2000

I took great painstaking care in properly disposing of her family in such a way no one would be able to discover what happened. I will just note that hydrochloric acid while hard to find and even harder to make is well worth it for permanently removing all traces of a body from existence. Indeed I am of one-hundred percent certainty that if the police or anyone else come to check on them it will look as if they simply skipped town or the country suddenly leaving all belongings here.

I have given great thought as to taking to prowl tonight, but I am unsure as to my need to. After all I am still quite gorged from last night, however tomorrow night I must give hunt and gather some blood for Jane as well,she will need her strength when she awakes for I have many things to teach her. The most important of which being how to become immune to sunlight. It's not so much a technique as it is a ritual, but it can be quite sapping on oneself and none other than her can perform it. For sake of her religion I shall have to Catholicize the ritual calling upon the saints whom the gods in the original ritual were taken from. I shall write the ritual down for her sake later and gather the ritual items in the mean time. First I shall have to make some research as to if there are any differences between early Catholic spell crafting rituals, early Pagan, and modern Wiccan ones. In order to do this I shall have to re-obtain a copy of Cornelius Agrippa's "Of Magickal Ceremonies" and Peter De Abano's "Heptameron". Once I have gone over these works I should be able to begin in a fashion that should not offend the poor girl.

Speaking of her though, she seems to be growing even more lovely as the transformation takes place. Her skin has developed an almost a pearly pallor causing her now golden blond hair to become ever so radiant. Her lips have developed more of a sanguine color as well, it is almost too much for accurate description, but it causes me to wonder whether or not her eyes shall remain the same sky blue they were before we started. I've never seen a hair color change in a turning before. It is most strange to me.

Enough of her for now though I am starting to believe myself becoming obsessed with her. We mustn't stay here long though. Considering her family's prominence in the community they will be missed shortly, a thought I completely overlooked before. I believe now is the time I shall start to pack what we shall need for our journey, and begin search for a cave or some form of shelter nearby just in case I should have to make a hasty retreat with the girl.

I shall write of this in further detail once I have all the details arranged, it will serve as a guide to aid me re-locate the shelter when and if we need it.

May 8, 2000

Tonight was yet another odd one. In fact after the events I almost feel as if I should be writing in blood instead of ink. Actually thinking about it with as blood stained as my clothes are currently it will be a miracle if this page does not become at least a little blood soaked. I'm not sure why but I always feel so much more alive after eviscerating a foe. I do so abhor violence though it is almost a conundrum, but until I learn of a better fitting reason I can only attribute it to my state of being. But I am beginning to ramble philosophical nonsense I must stay on task at least with this entry.

As I noted yesterday I was to look for a place of refuge in case the need of such should arise. The entire event was quite the oddity I must admit and ended in surprises that I could not have foreseen. It has been months, maybe even years by human time since I last came upon another Vampire. I guess being the lone wolf that I am there is no surprise in that, I do not particularly enjoy the company of many others of my kind. They are for the most part too wild and uncontrolled for my taste refusing to even battle their hunger when it arises and going about things in such a beastly manner. It is no wonder legend and myth depicts us as such vulgar beasts too far removed from the light for redemption. Alas! Philosophical nonsense yet again! I must keep my head straight and on task, may that last note help will me to stay focused and on track.

I'm not quite sure where to begin recording tonight's venture, so I shall start from right before I left as to hopefully include even the smallest, yet even so still significant, detail.

To begin everything I decided to dress in full black on this evening. I in no way wanted to be seen by any living soul, the people around here do not seem to take kindly to creatures of the night so any attention I might have drawn to myself would have been supremely negative to my goal of locating and securing a safe haven. I kept the articles of clothing to a mostly light and tight fitting variety, wearing nothing but a plain long sleeved shirt, a rugged pair of jeans, and pair of combat boots with secret bladed compartments in the toe and heel of each boot, the only accessory I burdened myself with was a katana, which I discovered in the brother's room, strapped to my back as not to hinder my mobility. After dressing I paid a quick visit to the sleeping beau... err... to Jane and made sure to fortify the sleeping spell just in case I did not make it back tonight for any reason what so ever. Finally, I did a quick round ensuring the perimeter was secure before finally taking off into the black veil of the night.

Immediately I directed my course towards a wooded area I had noted upon my entry into town. It was by no means a large area only approximately five to ten acres, however I had to make do with what I could after all my time to search was very limited. I am still unsure as to whether or not anyone owns the land though, that will be a hurdle for another time though and after surveying the land I can say with an almost certainty that if it is under the ownership of mundane man then it receives little tending if any, let alone human traffic. There were many fallen trees in the area and the underbrush was very thick in most parts making the trek most difficult, even for me.

In fact, it hindered me so much that I decided getting an aerial view would have to suffice and took to running along the lower branches of the trees, not knowing at the time that this would soon come to greatly benefit me, looking back I quite firmly believe I would have most assuredly been sent back to the grave tonight if I had not done so. I will further detail this shortly though.

It had been about an hour before I came across a reasonable opening in the earth that held the tell tale signs of a cavern. I was overjoyed by this and almost hastily descended upon it when I heard what sounded like several figures heading my way. Instinctively I withdrew higher into the branches ensuring my anonymity amongst the shadows, shielding myself in the case of an aggressor. I then bade myself to watch for what was causing all the commotion.

As I watched a ragged, yet strong looking male charged through the brush underneath me. There was a certain look of intense fear upon his face that I had never seen before in any living creature, almost as if he was afraid for more than family, life, liberty and soul. The image of which I will never be able to get out of my memory... I felt an intense pity for the soul, yes it is true that I did not know his plight but his fear did not seem like the fear of a villain or a heretic nor that I had seen of anyone in trouble due to some ill gain, and thus I felt compelled to follow him. I can honestly convey that I did not wish too, his plight was not mine and I had no reason to, but my body seemed to guide itself hovering above him as he ran. I watched him as he inevitably grew tired and weary, eventually slowing but never looking over his shoulder to see if the now thunderous sounding thing chasing him was gaining on him. He always remained eyes forward, his eyes transfixed upon his forward surroundings desperately searching for the best path in which to flee.

But then it happened... A sudden misstep, he lost his footing and viciously flew headlong into a tree. Panting he scrambled to his feet, the desperate look of fear in his eyes growing more intense by the moment as if he knew this was the end, he seemed to know death was descending upon him. He barely had time to begin running again when the first lycan jumped out from the underbrush towards him, it knew it was victorious... It knew it's prey was about to fall before it and become meat for the others... But on this occasion it knew wrong. I still do not know what compelled my action for sure, though it was probably the look in the man's eyes. It was still the same as before, nothing had changed... It had compelled me to follow him and now it had compelled me to kill for him.

With a swiftness that not even I know of myself, I withdrew the blade from its sheath and descended upon the beast, pinning its skull into the ground. At that point instinct had taken completely over, I am not certain whether it was survival or another but instinct none the less. The remainder of the pack fell upon us and died like lambs led to slaughter.

Sheathing the sword I turned to the man, and noticed his canine teeth were abnormally large, he was like me, a member of my kind. Still afraid he began to back away, not yet running he seemed too stunned at the moment. I approached him slowly holding out my arms as I had done to Jane in days past with my palms open and told him not to fear me, I was not his enemy. He only stood there silently, dumbfounded. At this point I was beginning to grow irritated with him and not wanting to wait around for more foes I told him as firmly as I could that if he wished to live then he would have to follow me. Other words his choice was to lie in wait for his messengers of death to return. I simply walked away after that, and to my heart's unexplained happiness if not utter joy he followed me, yet remained silent the entire journey back to Jane's house.

When we arrived I instructed him to clean up and directed him towards the shower. Hopefully he will be willing to talk when he gets out. I am most curious as to why he was being hunted down like that. Yes, it is common knowledge that Vampires and lycans do no exactly get along, but we do not hunt one another.


May 8, 2000. Continued.

I was standing in the guest room, after changing, when the man returned dressed the Jane's father's Sunday suit which he had used for his sermons, and immediately descended upon my discarded clothing. It was still moist with blood, and he licked and sucked as much blood out as he could. He seemed voracious, almost starved and considering his attire the entire scene was almost comical to me, the idea of a vampire priest seemed absurd to me at the time so it is not hard to see why I chuckled at him. Immediately he seemed to take offense to this and hurriedly backed away looking down with a shameful look in his eyes.

I could tell he had not been a vampire long, he could not even control his hunger when set off by a blood soaked pile of clothes. This youngling, what I call a vampire who has not yet learned that it can control its hunger or who is still in the process of learning to do so, was in definite need of refining and my laughing had most definitely not helped him cope with his condition. I must have made him feel foolish and weak even though I certainly had not intended to. So at this point I tried to distract him from what I had just witnessed.

I began walking towards him and extended my hand in a warm greeting, "Hello, again I'm glad to see you have washed and found some respectable clothing. I am known as Fireraven Hollowheart, though my birth name has been lost and forgotten for many ages."

At first he looked almost bewildered by my civility and well mannered behavior. It was then that I began to understand that he must of been changed by the more uncivilized of our kind, so I could understand why he would have such a reaction. However, after staring in such a manner for a brief moment he clasped my hand and shook it firmly, still making no attempt talk back to me.

Admittedly I was a little discouraged so I pried at him hoping that if I began questioning him that he might answer. "What do they call you?" I asked first.

Another look of bewilderment ran across his face, and he began looking around nervously. At this point I had begun to wonder if was wasting my time, but prompted the question once more hoping to garner at least some response.

A pained expression came across his face and he simply muttered, "haud nomen," and looked down fearfully as if I might strike him down.

I was shocked, no wonder he did not speak. He was of the haud nomen, Latin for no name. He was banished from vampyric society, black listed, an outcast among outcasts. I immediately took sympathy towards this.

"Do not worry, I will not harm you. You have done nothing to me therfore I have no reason to harm you, and for some reason unknown even to myself I do feel compelled to help you."

A look of confusion came over his face as I said this. I understood why, he was banished, he had no name amongst vampires, effectively making him nothing to anyone. His hunts were fair game to others, his life forfeit to our kind, he had committed one of the biggest heresies against vampire kind and as such was almost beyond redemption. It is true I had no idea what he had done, but to put it frankly I did not care. Vampire law in general I consider illogical and lacking in many of the fundamental aspects by which human law is defined. For example one could receive a haud nomen status simply by refusing to feed off of a human in some clans. I've even heard some cases where a vampire with a conscious had been executed on the spot for not raping his prey when his clan leader, or Gens Rector as is the proper term, had commanded it. It is for reasons such as these that I abhor most of my kind. It is also the reason by which I could sympathize with all haud nomen.

I wanted to better understand this man so I asked him what the cause of his exile had been. The story he told me was long and I can not quote it verbatim as I would like. I will, however, describe it as best I can.

He had been turned by a vicious war mongering clan known as the Iron Sickle. I personally do not know of this clan, but by the description he gave me I can say for a fact that they are a ruthless, well oiled killing machine with a destructive power to match that of the military might of Germany at the beginning of World War II. They had no code of honor, at least by any reasonable standard. The hunt was their purpose in life, and the corruption of the pure their most profane love. I am not just speaking of raping virgins here, their sickening lusts extend to an even more sickly ground. I know that rape is by no means something to be taken lightly but neither is abducting a person who is true to their religion, turning them against their will, and then slowly torturing them until they reach their breaking point, cursing their god. I suppose after a man in is exposed to such tortures that there is not much that he can do to cope except become that which tortured him so.

This man though was obviously no ordinary man. From his description it had been a month since he had been turned. A full month without blood. A full month of watching the ravishing of young women, and the slow torturous deaths of entire families and churches. He had seen preachers killed on their knees as they prayed to their god for deliverance from the evil which surrounded them. Their daughters brutally raped to death, while their mothers were forced to watch, with tongues cut out so they could make little sound of protest, and babies decapitated with their heads placed upon pikes. Sadly this only names a few of the sickening things he witnessed. I know not how he is still sane nor how he conveyed this to me as calmly as he did, but I sense a strong resolve within him. I believe that without this there would not have been a way for him to bide his time long enough to escape.

However, he was unaware that the clan had lycan slaves. Lugaru to be more specific on the breed, men that could turn into wolves at will. This worked to his unwitting advantage though. I believe that they only let him escape because they knew the wolves would make quick work of him. It would only be a matter of time until they realized their slaves had been killed in his stead though. Which puts an entirely new sense of urgency on everything; so the second Jane wakes we must flee. I may be a very ancient and powerful vampire but this clan has several members that may be able to match my strength.

For now I am going to take the man, whom by this point has identified himself as Jack Seven, out to hunt. He will need his strength, and I must feed as well tonight. He refuses to feed on humans so we will take our hunt to a nearby zoo or perhaps a hospital blood bank if we must. We shall gather some additional blood for Jane, as well as the necessary ritual items to allow both of them to be able to move under the sun. This may be our greatest strength in the days to come if the Iron Sickle decides to chase us. Only time can tell for certain though. May the gods have mercy us.

May 9, 2000

I find zoos are the most useful place to train a youngling to control their hunger. They are a place where if one animal is killed it is of little consequence to us. However, if multiple animals end up dead over night it would be something publicized on television, possibly drawing undesired attention our way. We started by partially draining several of the larger animals, because I knew Jack would be able to pull himself away from them before killing one.

The lions were our first target because their diet includes the most fresh life energy of any other animal here, and thus would be the most filling. There were three in the cage two lioness,one of which was showing the early signs of pregnancy, and one lion. All three were sound asleep completely and fully unaware of our stealthy and potentially lethal approach. As we neared I instructed Jack not to touch to pregnant one as she would need all her strength for her cubs, he nodded in understanding and carefully descended upon the other lioness, biting her neck. For a few minutes time seemed to stand still as he drained his prey, but remarkably without me having to tell him to stop he pulled away leaving his victim with more than enough blood to survive. Impressed I descended upon the other lion gathering most of the blood that I would need. Afterwords I removed a small plastic Tupperware container from the back pack I had brought with us and filled it to the brim with the beast's blood. I then securely sealed the container, wrapping it with duct tape to ensure that it did not spill. Finally placing the container carefully back into the bag.

As the lions continued to sleep as if nothing had ever transpired we made our leave, entering the bear cage next to them. Immediately we were caught off guard and Jack barely managed to duck under a swipe that could have taken his head clear off. Swiftly I did I flip jump over the bear, waving it to sleep, barely managing to twist in time as a second bear attempted to pin me to the ground. As I landed I did I quick leg sweep knocking the gargantuan beast's legs out from under it and sending it hurtling away, only stopping as it rolled into the wall of the cage and fell unconscious from the blow. I turned around to see if any there were any others, only to find Jack on the defensive against two more of them. He was rolling between the legs of two of them expertly using their own bodily weight and lack of speed against them.

I watched him for a few moments hoping that he would make some sort of offensive movement towards them to end it, he seemed to refuse to though. So I stepped in taking both of them by surprise and cracking both of their skulls together leaving them completely unconscious upon the floor. Satisfied with my work I turned to Jack and complimented him on his skillful distracting of the pair. He smiled bashfully and asked how he could help with the rest of the plan so I threw him two more Tupperware containers and instructed him to fill them. I did the same, biting into one of the bear's throats and draining its blood into two additional containers. We securely sealed them in the same manner as the first and then proceeded to finish filling ourselves on the other two bears.

After this we made our way silently towards the exit of the zoo. Something seemed to be watching us though that I had not noticed before. It was a lone figure, moving alone in the shadows. However, far to quickly to pinpoint from scent alone. Unnerved I motioned Jack to stop, and closed my eyes to try and pinpoint its location from its aura. I could sense it was another Vampire, not as strong as I but far stronger than Jack. Immediately I assumed it had been sent to hunt him down. I figured if I called it out I could get it to show itself instead of immediately instigating violence.

"Brother, come out we mean no harm," I yelled out, Jack immediately tensed up moving behind me with a confused look upon his face.

From the shadows of a building in front of us a huge hulking figure emerged. It had the build of a body builder and was dressed like a ragged savage carrying a spiked whip with it. It was obviously the slave task master of the Iron Sickle, there was no doubt in my mind. He was here for Jack.

I did not want him to realize that I knew he was here to fight, the more off guard that I could catch him the better. "What brings you out here tonight? I was not aware that any other of our kind enjoyed the blood of animals." I lied.

The bruiting figure grunted staring at me and then to Jack almost as if sizing us up before making his reply. "I am here for no such reason. I am only here to see if my lugaru ran here after I sent them after a filthy haud nomen. I assumed this would be the best place to start looking, there is no way such a weak, pathetic and impudent young pup could have killed them."

I smiled at the figure, inwardly it was a smile of relief knowing that he had not come here specifically to fight us, outwardly it was a smile of acknowledgment of the figure's dilemma. "I can assure you there are no lugaru here. I did not see a wolf exhibit for them to hide in, nor have I come across their foul odor."

He laughed at this statement. "Then it is a shame, it seems I have wasted my time in coming here. Unless by chance you can tell me if you have come across a haud nomen recently. It would please my Gens Rector greatly to have his head." As he said this he began staring at Jack. I could tell he recognized him but I would not give myself away just yet.

"No," I lied again, "I have only come across this youngling recently. He is nothing like the haud nomen you have described. His name is Jack, a fine specimen indeed he seems to be growing remarkably fast. He shows more restraint than most of our kind already and has already started mastering his new found strengths."

The brute smiled wickedly, "Jack you say? If he has a name then he could not possibly be a haud nomen, now could he?" He began sauntering towards us menacingly, but far from violently. "Unless of course one of you has lied to me." He raised the hand with the whip in it remarkably fast for someone of his size and let it fly at Jack, a psychotic look of joy overcoming him as he did so.

Swiftly I moved to intercept ripping the whip out of its intended flight path, gripping it firmly. "Bad move. You do not know the world of pain you have just brought upon yourself."

Cockily the figure laughed as if I were no challenge to it. "And who are you to make such an assertion? You look small and frail to me. This fight will not last five minutes."

I smiled, "Indeed, in fact it's already over." I tightened my grip on the whip and with one mighty tug pulled him towards me, my other hand extended as if it were a blade in front of me. A look of horror came over his face as he looked down only to see my hand in his. I smiled squeezing his stomach tauntingly, "I thought you said I was weak, pup?" He scowled insulted by the term and by my mocking him. I then proceeded to rip out his stomach, and watched as he fell lifeless to the ground.

"Jack, you should drain him to acquire his strength. We will need it for when they send more after you." He hesitated, eying the body as if it were stricken with the plague. I couldn't understand his hesitation, this was his enemy. "Do it Jack!" I urged once more impatiently.

"How will doing this help me?" He asked still staring at the body with contempt.

"Any time you drain something you gain its strength. That is how we get stronger. Now, you can either do it or burden me by having to defend you at all times. I may not always be here to protect you, you have to to do this."

He sulked in defeat and drained the body, but insisted upon a proper burial. Afterwords we left, making our stop to pick up supplies for the ritual on our way back to wake Jane. Tonight is the night. She will finally awaken as one of us. Free to lead a new life and forge her own destiny. Everything is ready, it is finally time to wake her.


May 9, 2000. Continued.

What has seemed like the longest wait of my life has finally come to an end, Jane is finally awake. The change was remarkable, never before have I seen a physical change like this during a turning. I mean yes they tend to become paler, but not with such an iridescent glow, such as her now pearl like pallor. Nor had I ever seen hair change so drastically, as I have previously mentioned her hair which was once brown is now a radiant shade of golden blond. This combined with the sanguine color of her lips and the sheer beauty of her eyes, which thank the gods are still the most lovely shade of sky blue I have ever seen, was enough to send chills down my spine as I woke her from her slumber. In all honesty I was almost all too tempted to keep her in that state permanently just so I could stare at her like a trophy upon a mantle for all time. However, I had promised to wake her, and thus I did.

She smiled radiantly upward at me as I lifted the spell and she came to, causing my heart to flutter unexpectedly. I smiled back at her and helped her sit up, asking her how she felt. She conveyed that while disturbed by her constant dreams of blood lust that she felt better than she had ever felt before, aside from an unbearable thirst. I told her that this had been expected and presented her with the five containers that Jack and I had collected during our hunt at the zoo. Almost immediately after carefully unwrapping the first container she began gulping them down. The site was almost awe inspiring, perhaps only due to my own understanding of our condition. I must say though I have rarely taken greater pleasure in watching a youngling take to their condition with such ferocity.

It was not long before she had devoured all of the containers. Then to my surprise she hugged me in a tight embrace and warmly thanked me for gathering her first meal. At this I informed her of Jack's aid in this and conveyed to her the events of the preceding days.

She took the news surprisingly lightly. She seemed completely and fully unafraid of what we potentially faced. I did not dare ask why but I am sure that either she is confident in either my strength or that by some divine means we will reach our deliverance. Either way she may be foolish, however, I prefer her unafraid. It gives me hope, especially if she gains strength and remains fearless. She could be a great warrior.

Almost shrugging off the news she asked me if the ritual was prepared. I told her that it it was and led her into the guest room of the house, which I had already purified for the ritual. Once inside the room, where Jack was already waiting, I handed them both a paper with the information that they required upon it. I cautioned them to take utmost seriousness with the ritual, as one false move or pretense could ruin the entire thing and cause their death. They both looked at me solemnly and swore they would take care and follow the directions as written. I smiled and left them to their work. It would take up the remainder of the night and require hours of deep meditation. So I left them in order to let them work undisturbed.

At first I just decided to walk around the house, but that grew tiresome quickly. I was nervous about the entire undertaking at hand, and needed some distraction. So I decided to take a walk outside to hopefully find something to take my mind off of it. Silently I slipped through the front door and made my way down the street.

As I have begun to love about this region the streets were deserted, excluding the few cats and other various nocturnal animals, and everything was calm. I took a casual stroll around the block, occasionally taking note of specific houses that seemed to have good potential for feeding from. Eventually I expanded my walk, and for an odd reason I felt drawn to the zoo again. I knew not why at the time, but it soon became quite evident.

As I neared the zoo, perhaps only blocks away I sensed someone or something watching me. Still a little on edge, sadly but admittedly, from earlier I paid far more attention to this feeling than I normally would. As I grew closer, the feeling intensified and I began to feel an all too familiar aura. Though I could not place it at the time, I could recall having felt it before long ago. It was distinctly cold, like that of a serial killer. I did not like this feeling, in this region it could be none other than that of a vampire, but I did not believe it possible that I would know a member the Iron Sickle. It seemed implausible, after all every psychotic vampire I had ever known should still be in Europe. So it is reasonable to see why by this time I was desperately wandering who it could be.

Eventually, I drew close enough to it to pinpoint where it was. Slowly I drew in a breath to calm myself, and called out to it asking for it to reveal itself. At this time I was in a small desolate and well shadowed alley near the zoo. Slowly he emerged from the shadows showing at first nothing but his pale, thin face smiling sinisterly at me. As he emerged I could see that he was dressed lightly, bondage straps with small blades criss-crossed his well toned muscular upper body, a pair of tight leather pants covered his legs perfectly contouring to his sleekly toned leg muscles and leading almost seamlessly to a black pair of boots.

As he slowly walked towards me laughing coldly, almost to himself he began to speak in a cold chilling tone, "So one of the Five Civilized Vampires finally decides to show himself. I though you were all too afraid." His wicked smile curved with delight.

Expressionless, I sat there motionless for a moment trying to remember who he was. I knew that I knew him, but from when? What era? A thousand questions blazed through my mind. Who was this cold being?

"I can tell you do not remember me. What a shame too. I thought you might remember the one you could never hunt down. The one who killed so many, so gruesomely, expertly taunting the dimwitted bobby directing. All the while neither them nor the five of you could find me, and even when I revealed myself to you the most famed of all the Five Civilized I still escaped." I tensed, memories rushing back from all those years ago, "See now it is all coming back is it not? All these years, I bet you assumed I had died. Oh, how truly foolish you are. Yet, even going to these great lengths to avoid you," he began snarling angrily at this point, "you still manage to bumble your way in and meddle with my affairs!"

My tenseness fell away. This monster was a master of stealth. I knew this, but he could not match my over all strength. In the open I alone had the advantage, as well as in such closed quarters combat. He knew this, he could not hide here. I smiled knowing this and drew a slow breath as I began to speak, "Reaver. I remember you. You prey upon the weak, the likes of you could never harm me. Why is it that you have revealed yourself to me? Why did you lead me here?"

The smile once more returned to his face, "Perhaps I alone could never best you. But as I am sure you are now aware I am not quite alone." He began chuckling coldly once more. "I only led you here as a warning, stay out of my affairs and hand over the haud nomen that you shield or perish. What ever your decision I could care less, I will have my way one way or another." He smiled triumphantly, confidence blazing in his eyes, "You have until nightfall to decide. However, dawn approaches and I must take leave. I will leave you with one last warning though. Kill another of my clan and that girl you prize so much, she will become my next toy." He began laughing almost maniacally and disappeared dissipating into the building behind him without a trace.

How had he known about Jane? Had he been watching me this entire time? A thousand more questions blazed through my mind like lit fuses leading to dynamite. I had not the time for this at the time, my concern was for Jane. Immediately I took off panicked, I had to ensure her safety above everything.

With as much haste as I could muster I hurdled towards the house, making it there in record time. As I reached the door I slid in like a baseball player, making myself thin last moment. Slowing as I stood up, making sure not to disturb them in case they were still in the room. My heart beat fast as I made my way down the hall and peered into the room.

They were safe, meditating quietly. My heart slowed, relieved. This was almost too much, we had to leave today. There was no way around it, if he could manage to bring the full force of his clan upon us we would surely perish.

Trying not to panic further I forced myself to sit down at the table and write. Dawn breaks as I finish this entry, I must now go and break the news to them as they awake from meditation. Today, will be a grave day indeed...

May 10, 2000

I entered the room seemingly as they both began to stand. Perhaps they sensed me coming, or perhaps it was mere coincidence but it caught my attention in that hour of gloom. Their faces were both solemn as they turned to face me, but none the less they seemed glad to see me or perhaps they were just happy that they were still alive while covered in the sunlight which flowed through the windows. It did not matter which really and though it may be of interest to me now at the time the burden of the news in which I had to relay to them had overcome all the luxuries of curiosity.

I told them that they had done well seeing how the ritual had been a success, but with a horrid bitterness I also informed them that this blessing was perhaps our greatest defense at this point. Though I had informed them of the threat before, and Jack perhaps knew better than any of us I felt myself possessed to brief them on the ever updating status of our perilous predicament. As I had assumed Jane took to the knowledge as if it were nothing, I could have sworn she literally smiled and shrugged it off. She probably thinks herself invulnerable either that or she has no sense to fear that which by all right should be feared out right. I realize that Franklin D. Roosevelt said that there is nothing to fear, but fear itself, but he has never seen the horrors that I have witnessed and neither has she.

Jack on a much contrary note began questioning me on the subject. I believe he thinks like a general, in order to defeat your enemy or their purpose you must first know the enemy in depth. He showed less sign of fear than I had known of him though. I believe the ability to walk in the light may have boosted his confidence, or perhaps in deep meditation he found a deeper meaning behind all of this. I can not be certain though, nor do I particularly care as long as he remains cautious. Which I can say by the the questions he asked that he most definitely still is. Indeed he asked a long series of questions but I will record the most relevant ones here for memory sake in case need come of them in the future.

First he asked how old Reaver was and how he came to be as he is. I told him I did not know of his age only that I could say for certainty that he was younger than I. As for his history I can not say much for him in particular, however he has always shown traits common amongst those Vampires whom were doctors during the time of the black death and were driven mad by the stress of the situation and the toxicity of the their victims' blood. Intrigued by this concept he asked whether or not the Vampyric doctors were in it to save the humans or merely for easy hunting. I am sure he expected the answer to be the easy hunting route which for some I can say it was, however, definitely not for all. At first it was just for the preservation of our own species, we feared our food would die out and leave us dying of starvation. However, as time progressed a number of our kind became sympathetic towards our prey's plight and strove non-stop to find a cure. In the process many brilliant doctors, which we had introduced ourselves to as what we are, were turned in order to preserve their lives, shielding them from the plague. Eventually a radical idea was formed that the blood of vampires could boost the immunity of a human, temporarily, enough to combat the plague. It was a success, but came far too late for. Many of our kind who had worked so hard were driven insane beyond the point of madness or reason. They became killers of what they once sought to protect, treating the humans like nothing more devices made for torture.

An odd look of shock came over his face as I explained this, I smiled and I remember clearly having said. "See not all of us are as evil as you might imagine. As all things dark we are merely misunderstood."

He laughed at this and continued his questioning by inquiring as to what characteristics separated Reaver from your normal psychotic vampire. The fact is that he had used medical techniques to kill, dissecting and dismembering bodies in the streets for nothing more than the joy of the kill. The most significant aspect of the entire thing was him not feeding off what he killed in this manner. He killed for the pleasure of it, the thrill. The fact is before this era none of us who were not serial killers as humans were known to do this. It simply was not our way.

The rest of the questions he asked were of little consequence to understanding our enemy. During this time Jane had left the room to pack clothes for the journey. It would be all that we would really need. We were prepared to leave. All that is needed is me changing into some more regionally appropriate clothing. I will write more later, but we are going to start heading west, towards New Mexico, and I can not hinder us any further by delaying our start with my writing.


May 10, 2000. Continued.

As we exited Jane's house for the final time she turned towards it bidding it a solemn farewell. I could have sworn that for an instant I saw tears begin to gather in her eyes, but she did not cry so I may have been mistaken.

The streets were less than teaming with the life a big city would have been filled with at this hour. As we walked through the streets we came across almost no cars, in fact the day time work hours here seemed to almost mirror the night time ones. This was good for us allowing us to walk unhindered for many hours. Soon enough lunch hour was upon us, and traffic filled the streets. It was definitely awkward at first, people were staring at us. It felt as if they were always watching and scrutinizing us, I could tell the others felt the same though none of us said anything about it. It is probable that it was due in part to us walking, no one around here ever seems to. No wonder the south seems so filled with obesity.

Inevitably though southern hospitality got the best of someone, and a car pulled over beside us the man driving smiling as he asked if he could give us a ride. He was an odd sort to me dressed in business slacks and a long sleeve shirt with a crucifix hanging from his neck. We all smiled and eagerly got in, Jane and Jack in the back seat and I in the front. As we buckled our seat belts he began speaking to Jack, who was still dressed in the clothing of Jane's father. "So what is a minister such as yourself doing walking through the middle of town? I am right to assume you are minister of course?"

Jack smiled at the man and began a polite conversation. "Some weeks ago I decided to take a cross state journey by foot with my friends." he said keeping a straight face, "I needed some time between God, nature, friends and myself that only such a journey could fulfill."

The man stared awkwardly at Jack through his rear view mirror for a moment. "What do you mean by that?"

"I am glad you asked." Jack smiled once more, "I was in the middle of writing a sermon on how the good lord provides for the faithful in time of need when I came to the realization that I had never experienced this for myself. My positioning in life had prevented all need for my reliance upon God. So thinking to myself, how can I preach what I do not fully understand, I took upon this journey with nothing more than my most trust friends."

The man was completely fooled by Jack's quick witted lie and began speaking to Jack at length on the subject, and to be honest with you I quickly grew bored and ignored most of the conversation. However, before I even realized what was happening I learned that we were being roped into a Bible study. I'm guessing while I was not paying the smallest heed to the conversation the man pleaded that Jack do a sermon for his youth group about his journey, and for some reason far beyond my ability to reason he accepted.

This was going to cut off a great deal of our time to flee. I was enraged, more with myself for failing to pay attention than anything. This could not be avoided though. None of us had a cell phone, none of us had any particular reason, as far as that we could explain to this man with out having to kill him for not being able to commit to plans made in the name of God, it was insanity. I mean there we were running from a threat that could, if we were followed, destroy this entire church and Jack volunteers us to stay with them until an hour or so past dark.

I fumed the rest of the night, even through dinner at the man's house as we sat and talked with his family. It was hard not to be angry with the situation. I mean even if this man and his family were exactly like Jane's, which I do not find likely there are open about their flaws so there is almost no chance that they are putting up that kind of facade. Yet here we were like messengers of death leaving our scent upon their house, and leading a trail of breadcrumbs directly to their house of worship. In fact in the middle of dinner I was so nauseated by the idea that I had to excuse myself to go out to the porch for a cigarette.

The others perhaps were too naive to realize this. They do not understand the hunt as I do, or that we were traveling slow as not to draw attention. For all I know they may not even find us by tonight, and for everyone's sake I do hope that. But for now dinner is over and we are all preparing for the evening service. There is nothing I can do at this point but be on guard and hope that nothing happens.


May 10, 2000. Continued.

The service was even duller than I had expected, not to say that Jack does not have a remarkable way with words. The religion as a whole I just find uninteresting. I sat in the back of the church because there were no entrances or windows anywhere else for me to be surprised by a group of vampire or lycan charging through. Jane sat right next to me, smiling cheerfully. The majority of the remainder of the room was packed full. I distinctly remember my anger almost boiling over at the thought of all the potential lives that could be lost on this night.

Jack's sermon seemed to captivate the crowd, including Jane. He definitely has a gift for public speaking. For the most of an hour he droned on and on, though to everyone else in the room his voice seemed to fall upon like a chorus of angels, continuing even after darkness fell. I grew far more tense at this moment. I did not know how close our enemy might be, only that they could be on us within half an hour considering the distance we had traveled today. I was so nervous in fact that within the first ten minutes of nightfall I had begun looking around at even the slightest sound or feeling of even the faintest aura approaching. Soon enough though I heard the roar of an engine outside, though no one seemed to notice they were all still far too captivated by Jack's sermon. In fact so much so that I feared if a massive attack did occur that they would all die in their seats. The engine noise died down suddenly and I felt two distinctly non-human auras walking towards the building. Silently I slipped out the door to greet the presence, no one noticed my hasty exit.

As I exited the building a pair of identical twins approached me. They had long black hair, with thick black sunglasses covering their eyes, each had a biker jacket on with an identical shirt with a skull and cross bone insignia upon it, and wore black jeans. "You must be the one known as Fireraven." the first one smiled.

"Where is the haud nomen?" the other one said in the same tone as the first had spoken.

"I have no idea what you are talking about, both my companions have names." I retorted.

"Not in the eyes..."

"Of the Stardust Cabal." They were switching off mid-sentence as if they had rehearsed this or they could read each others' minds.

"I do not recognize their authority. They lost the great war, not they ever had control over me to begin with." I was beginning to grow annoyed yet I let no sign of it show.

"Do not be a fool. We do not wish to destroy you."

"Indeed, our quarrel is not with any of the Five Civilized."

"Only with the preacher in wolf's clothing."

"You do not know who you are dealing with apparently. I will not allow your savageries." I tensed up preparing to fight.

"We know enough. You could not destroy our leader or even find him."

"Therefore you are not as mighty as legends would have us think."

The suddenly both came at me simultaneously, slashing violently with their claws. I jumped over them, kicking one square in the back sending him face first into the ground. Immediately I had to dodge another blow from the other one though. He moved like lightning with a flurry of strikes. I laughed as I dodged each blow with ease though, he may have been fast but he was no match for my speed.

A wicked smile came to his face though as the second had managed to get behind me, and in an attempt at a fatal blow thrusts his claws towards the back of my heart. I laughed and ducked under the blow, catching them both off guard with a dual upper cut sending them both flying back several feet.

The jumped back up to their feet almost instantly. "He is faster than we had expected brother."

"Indeed, but he shall fall all the same."

They charged again from separate directions as I laughed at their cockiness. "Do you not know another trick?"

One of them smiled, "but of course I do." He leaped into the air and vanished as a cloud of fog covered the church parking lot. The fog was thick leaving nothing visible. I felt one lung at me, I grabbed his arm and kneed him in the gut. I then twisted his arm behind, I smiled in satisfaction as I heard the loud crunch as it snapped in two. The other one lunged at me from behind, but I simply turned the other one towards the blow. There was a suddenly splutter as blood poured from the mouth of the one who's arm I held. He had been pierced through the heart, damaged far beyond regeneration. I threw him to the ground as the fog disappeared.

"You will pay dearly for that!" The remaining one scowled as he charged at me filled with anger.

He made for easy pickings. Blinded by rage he hurdled himself head long at me. All I had do was simply dodge one blow, as I grabbed his arm and flipped him onto his back. He made a valiant attempt to react but it was too late, I ripped his throat out as his foot came flying at my face slowing as death set in, and then falling back to the ground before it even reached me.

I smiled relieved that this was all that they had sent, when I heard a scream emanate from within the church. It was Jane's voice, I panicked and rushed in. As I entered I saw the bodies of every member drained in their chair, and Jane was pinned to a wall, held by her throat, by none other than Reaver. He was fondling her and taunting her as I entered, Jack unconscious behind them. It appeared he had been knocked out, a huge knot upon his head. I immediately charged at Reaver, who let Jane loose with a clearly dissatisfied look upon his face.

I charged angrily towards him as he disappeared into the shadows of the building. I raged around the room trying to find him, but there was no sign. He had escaped once again. Once I was sure it was safe I immediately ran to Jane. She was shaken, but she would be alright after all she had suffered through far worse before. I directed her to help me get Jack on the back of one of the bikes and we took off in retreat. Reaver had gone for back up, the rest would descend upon us soon if we did not act.

It only took moments and we were gone, Jack strapped haphazardly to me on one bike and Jane driving the other. We traveled until we found a spot that I could more easily defend. Hopefully they will not show again tonight but only time will tell. Jack is waking now. I will write more later, but for now I believe I will tear him apart for his lapse in judgment. I only hope he learned from tonight's massacre...


May 10, 2000. Continued.

As Jack awoke I pinned him to a nearby tree, and breathing heavily I began to speak, "See what volunteering us to stay close to our last location does? It gets people killed!"

His face became even paler than I had ever seen it, "I... I didn't think..." he stammered, his voice shaking with fear.

I looked sternly into his eyes, the intense fire in mine reflecting back to me, "No, I don't suppose you did. If you had all those lives would not have been lost." I glared intently at him for a moment longer and then dropped him to the ground, "I hope their lives rest heavily on your soul."

Jack slumped to the ground staring heavily downwards, he had apparently taken their deaths harder that I had cared to imagine. It mattered not though he needed this on his conscience, otherwise we would end up in this situation more often than I would like to think about. I walked towards Jane, who had been sitting under a tree staring off solemnly into the forest for the most of an hour now. "Jane we need to..." She suddenly looked up and sped off into the forest. I was bewildered by this and just as I was about to give chase she returned with a rabbit in her mouth draining it dry. I chuckled at my haste to worry and continued speaking, "We need to fortify this area with some traps."

She stared at me for a moment as she finished draining her meal, "How might you propose we do that?"

"If you would gather up about five to ten long sturdy sticks and sharpen them for me I would be much obliged, I'll go gather some counter weights. We do not have a lot of time, just trust me." I ran off without another word, Jack remained silent staring at the ground the entire time. He was going to be the perfect bait in his current condition.

As I finished preparing everything I removed the blades from my combat boots and gave two of them to Jane so that she could be of more use in our defense. All that was left to do was wait. Time wore on and I realized that I had failed to feed tonight, in all the rushing and commotion I had forgotten all about it. I couldn't move though as it might blow our cover to anyone watching, I had to wait as my thirst exponentially mounted to an unbearable level. Hours passed and there was no sign of an enemy, and just as I was about to give up and attempt to retreat further away Jack stood up in a daze. Immediately three vampires jumped out of the shadows at him, blood lust blazing in their eyes. He did not even flinch though, he merely sat there awaiting his death. Obviously I was not planning on letting this happen and moments before they reached him I released the trap sending eight sharp sticks flying out of the ground upward into the attackers, killing all three instantly.

As if on cue five more emerged from the woods and surrounded him. A look of anger flashed across Jack's face, "How dare you fiends show your faces to me... After all you have done. May hell treat you well." This was a side of him I had never seen, it was as if his anger had finally boiled over. He rushed towards one of the first of the fallen foes removing the staff sized stick from its corpse he lunged the sharp side at one of the assailants. It barely managed to dodge the tip, however it could not avoid the side of the pole as Jack swiftly rotated around knocking both his original intended target and a second one that was trying to attack him from behind into trees. Deciding that this would go a lot smoother with some help I flung myself head long upon one of the attackers, ripping out its jugular before it had even realized that I was there. This evened out the odds a bit more as Jane soon followed the pair of us in battle doing her best to distract one as I took on two at once and Jack furiously assailed the final one.

They were faster and stronger than the last two. Every time I made to attack one or the other one seemed to be able to block it. I tackled one to the ground desperately as I began to grow tired from hunger. The second one landed a kick across my abdomen sending me flying through a nearby tree, which subsequently fell upon me. They both descended upon in an attempt to finish me off, however it was not to be as they did I threw the tree up into them sending them both flying upwards into the foliage.

There was as sudden scream from the foliage, and one of their arms came falling down. Panting worn down to the last of my strength I grabbed a hold of a fox that was fleeing the scene of the fight and drained it as more limbs fell from the foliage. Some of my strength regained I jumped up after the two, if only to see what was going on. To my surprise a female figure dressed in raggedy clothing was dissecting the pair with ease. One of them was missing and arm and a leg while the other was missing both its arms and an ear. A savage look of blood lust was in the girls eyes, she seemed familiar to me but I was not sure. Awe struck and confused as to just who this warrior woman was I stared on in a daze as she cut one of them in half and then proceeded to pin the other to a tree. Laughing maniacally she ripped out the beast's still beating heart and fed it to him as the life faded from his body.

Immediately afterwords she leaped down from the tree branches, and cut the Achilles tendons of the one Jane was fighting. As it fell to its knees Jane slit its throat as the new comer pinned it to the ground with her sword, shoving the sword through the back of its skull. She then proceeded to rip the corpse limb from limb in a blood crazed frenzy before jumping upon the one Jack had just managed to spear through the heart and do the same to it.

Soaked in the blood of our foes she walked up to me smiling, "So I see you have found new company Fireraven. I don't see the use in these weaklings they will only cause your death, and by the appearance of things you are quite lucky I needed a nap."

Suddenly it all made sense to me, how could I have forgotten that savage face, or her sheer brutality in battle. It was Solstice, "I will provide you safe haven for the night. Thank you for your help, I had not yet fed tonight I was growing fatigued but the situation was dire. This was the second attack we have suffered tonight."

"You always did know how to make big enemies," she smiled, "At least the trip to this desolate region of such a pitiful continent will prove useful."

I laughed, that was just like her always in the mood for a fight. "Go ahead and rest I will explain the situation when you wake. Though I do not suggest you stay with us for long."

She eyed Jane aggressively, "So who's this female? You're latest love slave?" She joked in a serious manner.

Jane blushed and looked taken aback at the same time as she retorted, "I am no sex toy! How dare you!"

Solstice walked up to her staring her down, "How dare I what, pup?" She smiled, at least being his love slave would be a compliment unlike being one to that pathetic looking preacher wanna be over there." She laughed viciously.

Jane glared daggers towards Solstice, so I figured it might be time to jump in before a fight broke loose. "Cool it, Solstice they are both younglings, one has only been turned for just over a day now. You have sanctuary any where I travel, you know that but do not pick fights with my allies."

"Bossy as ever, you and your Cabal always think they can tell the rest of us what to do. I will do as you ask for now, but remember you are the one who owes me here." She nestled down under a tree and immediately passed out. It was amazing the places she could sleep, then again she almost only sleeps, as far as what she tells me, when I am around to guard her.

I hope the rest of this night goes smoothly, Jane and Jack are both steaming over Solstice's comments though. I believe I need to take care of that before she awakens. I am so hungry though, I think I will have Jack get us some food while I speak with Jane. That should be the most prudent course of action.


May 10, 2000. Continued.

The second that Jack was out of site Jane began assailing me with questions about Solstice.

"What is your connection to that monstrosity? What the hell did you mean by you would provide her sanctuary? I do not want her around here! Did you hear what she called me?" The look in her eyes was that of jealous fire.

"Please calm down, that is just her nature. You do not understand her, then again you could not possibly understand that which you do not know." I stared deeply but sternly into her eyes as I said this.

"Then enlighten me as to why you of all beings would provide sanctuary to such a savage beast."

"She is an old friend, a war buddy. We have fought along side each other many times over many centuries, if not for her I am quite certain there would have been many battles that I would have not made it out alive. I would not call her wholly savage either, yes there is that beast inside of her, however, she was one of the ones who persevered in helping the human race during what you know as the black plague."

She stared at me as if in disbelief that I would be defending her in this way. "Then why does she talk condescendingly towards you? She does not act like any kind of friend."

"I will not pretend to understand Solstice because I do not, but if you wish to remain with me then you must respect that I guard her anytime she wishes to sleep. I will not say it again either, if you do not like her so be it. I do not particularly care what your feelings are towards her but my allies are my allies." I gave her a very matter of fact look, and then pounced upon a rabbit that was peeking out of its den ripping out its neck and draining it.

Jane just stared at me mouth open for a second and then stormed off. I felt little sympathy towards her, Solstice had just helped us so I had no intention of turning her away. After all if in the end we needed help we could always turn to her. There are very few others that I knew whom would drop everything they were doing like that.

Not wanting to dwell on the negative environment too long I decided to make a fire. It's not as if we needed one but I though it might liven things up a bit. All the while Jane sat pouting under a tree. I did not let it bring me down further though, while yes I hated to see her act in such a manner I could not expect much more out of her though we were all under a great deal of stress. As I finished gathering the wood and lit the fire she came over to me though and sat next to me by the fire, a sullen look upon her face.

I smiled somewhat and hugged her, trying to melt her worries away. It seemed to work somewhat successfully. Suddenly there was a loud crash in the woods as a tree fell, followed by an anguished scream. Fearing for Jack's safety Jane and I took off in the direction of the noise, prepared for a fight.

My heart raced as we towards the scene of the crash. How could I have been foolish enough to have told him leave camp alone in search of food? It did not matter now though we had to get to him and if he was in trouble we had to save him. As we neared the sounds of fighting became louder as did the sound of falling trees. I could tell there were more than two figures in the fight but I could not tell who was winning.

Eventually we made it to a clearing of felled trees, the scent of blood was strong. I came to a stop as did Jane who nearly fell out of what I can only assume was shock. The beasts were every where and several of their carcasses littered the ground. However, even though bitterly out numbered Jack fought on tooth and nail against this massive clan of lycans. I rushed in throwing myself headlong into the mass as Jack ran up a tree flipping far over their heads and tearing into the spine of one as he came down at the end of the mass of beasts closest to me. Hastily I grabbed Jack ran back towards Jane, grabbing her as well, and vaulted up a tree landing on one of the upper branches.

"Stay here!" I hissed at them, "There is far more to this than you know." Jack gave me a look of pure hatred, as if he believed that I was scolding him. "Just watch please." As the words escaped my lips I fell gracefully into the pack.

Landing in the center I stood up fiercely staring down the group of wolves that were encircling me, some of whom began to back down. I began to walk towards the pack and they began to back down. With each step I took they backed further and further away until they began to part at the point I was walking towards, snarling the entire time. As they parted I noticed a figure walking towards me in the crowd, its head rising slightly above the rest of the pack. I assumed this was the alpha male of the pack. The figure slowly emerged from the crowd, he was calmer than the rest, walking in more of a respectable manner. There was something different about him than most other lycans, but I could not quite place it at the time.
As he reached me an odd sort of smile came about his muzzle, it seemed friendly. I must have had a look of shock about me as the smile suddenly disappeared, being replaced by a look of confusion and insult. We sat there for a few moments staring at each other, something seemed familiar about the beast but I could not quite place it, and just as I was about to speak a sudden look of understanding came about him and he suddenly began to transform into his human form. The site was absolutely grotesque and to be honest I did not take any pleasure in watching, though I did so in order to maintain appearances if for nothing else.

Soon though he was fully transformed and I almost immediately recognized him, or at least his lineage. “Son of Talia what brings you to the new world? As far as I was aware your entire clan was still in Europe working with Alexander.”

He smiled widely extending a hand, which I grasped warmly, and began speaking almost jubilantly, “The legendary Fireraven Hollowheart you are far more stunning than the last time I saw you, my name is Fauzt named after my grandfather whom I know you knew well. I'm sorry for fighting your friend, but he was with a group of Vampires that had attacked us some time ago. So I believed him to be an enemy.”

“I understand a renegade clan such as yours can never be too careful. But I must insist on asking once more, what brings you to this continent?” I said.

:”It is perhaps a long story, and we simply do not have the time now.” he said a look of worry in his eyes, “If you wish to know I can lead you to our den and I will explain there.”

“We only need to get Solstice, whom is sleeping not too far from here. I'll have to carry her though.” I laughed aloud, Jane and Jack jumping from the trees and landing behind me as I said this. They both looked puzzled, but that was to be expected.

Soon we were on our way though, Solstice upon my back. When we arrived they made accommodations for us, giving us all our own private room in the massive cave like den, as well as a large portion of the blood from their nightly hunt. From there all we had do was wait for for Fauzt to tend to his pack.

May 11, 2000

It was almost dawn when Fauzt had returned from tending to his pack, his head hanging low as he greeted us with his deep voice. “No matter where we go they always seem to follow us,” he said turning towards me, “Elder, what should we do?”

To be honest I was utterly baffled by the question. What did he mean by they always seem to follow us? “Who is following you?” I said staring him sternly in the eyes. “And better yet why are you here?What has possessed you to stray so far from the main pack?”

“I am sure you are not so blind as to see the Stardust Cabal's presence on this continent. They may not be everywhere yet, but they are here to take over. We both know they have not had a stable presence in Europe since the Great War, as we also know their failure to establish one in both Asia and the African continents.” he said, “We've held them at bay for so many years, but they are here. That is why my section of the pack was sent here at first. It was purely a reconnaissance mission, we were not to engage the enemy at any cost.”

“Then why are you being hunted; if I can safely assume that is what is occurring.” I said.

“That savage beast Reaver discovered us far too quickly. I do not know how but it seemed as if within days of our arrival on this continent he had not only discovered our presence here but our secret den location.” He looked down as he said this tears welling in his eyes as he continued, “It was a slaughter. They took us by complete surprise one night, just the seven of them. They slew all but a few of us in a bloody battle which lasted almost until dawn, but as day drew near they vanished as quickly as they had appeared.” He began to sob a little, and I recall placing my hand upon his shoulder trying to comfort him. “They killed my mate! Just as they did Talia, they spit upon my lineage.”

“If that is so though then how do you have such a large pack now? You must number several hundred.” I said looking quite puzzled.


He breathed in deeply as he began to take control of his emotions once more, “I turned every last one of them. Some I did not give a choice. I am ashamed to admit it but I was so enraged in the beginning that I did not care for choice. They all grew beautifully into the cursed gift though, it seems that there are these people called furries as well as lycanthropists on this continent who dream of becoming such beasts as us. To them I had only set free their dreams, and they in turn unlocked the dreams of their friends. Soon enough like a virus spreading uncontrollably throughout the body I had assimilated a mass of these humans into an army willing to die to keep their dream alive.”

“So you have an army of volunteer werewolves?” I chuckled amused by the idea. “Such an odd concept, though obviously it works. So you say the seven attacked you?” My entire demeanor changed to that of a far more serious one now. “Are you telling me that their entire cabal is here?”

“I thought you of all the Civilized Five would know this. They are more than just here, they have a foot hold on an entire culture that is just dying to obtain the gift of immortality.” He shook his head with an intense gravity. “Their numbers grow by the day, and with that a dark cloud hangs over the larger cities of this continent.”

“So their grasp of power extends throughout the rural and the major populated cities?” I said.

“I am afraid so elder. Though it is not nearly as simple as that sounds. Every rural area in this particular country has at least one massive city. From what I know this is where they started everything.” He looked sternly at me as he said this. I could tell he did not want to be the messenger of bad news but there was not much he could do about it, this was a necessary evil.

“We need to formulate a plot to eradicate all of them.” I looked deeply into his eyes, Jane and Jack both looked at me horrified and began to protest as Solstice let out a happy laugh in her sleep. I motioned them to be silent and turning to them continued speaking, “Jane and Jack I know it sounds terrible but there is a thing amongst vampires called clan genetics. When a vampire from a certain clan turns someone certain traits, powers, and characteristics are transferred to the victim. What you do not understand is that a Vampire turned by one of the Stardust Cabal will be eternally chaotic for all time. That is why Solstice is the way she is.”

Jane glared at me a disgusted look upon her face, “Then why have you not killed that foul beast? Can you tell me that? If all the rest should die why not her? Don't give me that shit that she saved you or helped you in the past, because I do not believe it!”

“Jane calm down. Solstice more than just saved my life on a number of occasions, she betrayed the Stardust Cabal to help us out. So what if she is a merciless killing machine, because so am I in times of war, and my friends this is war. We may not have instigated it, but we must step up to the call or lose this land to death, and it will not stop there. After killing all life on this side of the world they will march over the rest of it, leaving a wave of destruction and chaos in their wake. We can not stand for that, letting them further their foothold on this land will only lead to the next great war. As solstice can vouch none of the Civilized Five ever wants another war like that.”

Everyone was quiet for a moment, Jane backed off acting like a scolded child. The silence seemed to last almost an eternity before Jack broke it. “I have seen first hand what they do to people. The ruthless, sadistic ways in which they go about things. I have seen them rape an murder entire families and gatherings of people. I would lay down my life to stop these monstrosities. Fireraven, no matter what happens you can count me in.”

“As you can count me in.” said Fauzt, “They slew my mate. They have decimated my clan. If that is not reason enough to want to see them eradicated I know not. I will fight to the death and if I must die I will die knowing that what I have done was for the word's better good.

“Good.” I smiled, “Fauzt we need to get a hold of Alexander, and then the rest of the Civilized Five. Do you think you are up for traveling to Europe? You are the only one awake here whom they will recognize.”

“You must realize that I have a duty to my clan here. I can not leave them. I am the Alpha and we are without an Omega to lead in my absence. The vast majority of this clan is young I can not leave them behind. Why not ask Solstice when she awakens?”

I pondered this for a moment, and decided that this would most probably be the best course of action. Now we await Solstice to awaken from her sleep, I hope it will be soon. I need to go and do some reconnaissance on the surrounding land to see if we can strike our enemy before they strike us for once. I will fortify a room for Solstice in this den, the kind of enchantment where only her or I may enter. She prefers it that way, and it is safer for any would be intruders.


May 11, 2000. Continued.

The protective room did not take long to set up. Then again, I have had to set it up so many times along my travels that I have had a lot of practice with it. I just hope she appreciates it when she wakes up, after all she does have quite the temper.

Immediately after I took off, telling no one to follow me. This would be a highly dangerous mission, and it is far easier for a group to be spotted as opposed to one person. There were some immediate objections, but I waved them off. This was my duty as the eldest and the strongest here, any companions would only hinder me or potentially end up dead.

The area was heavily wooded with many natural caverns. It was easy to see why Fauzt had chosen this area to shelter his clan. It would take days perhaps even weeks to search out all these caverns to find them, even with a large group. There was no telling as to how deep the tunnels went or what connected where, but if there is anything I have learned along my travels it is that lycan magic is especially potent in their den. Therefore, they should have a nice shield or illusion to hide their encampment from foes.

I pressed into the deepest region if the forest looking trying to catch scent of any of the Iron Sickle clan, or any Vampire at all. I was beginning to understand how they think, at least if my suspicions are correct and Reaver was now a full fledge member of the Stardust Cabal. They would probably hide in a large underground cavern, and then tunnel outward from there encompassing as vast a region as possible.

For the most of six hours I searched without results, and just as I was on the verge of turning back I caught a feint scent coming from one of the holes. It was definitely a vampire, there was absolutely no mistaking that. However, it was too feint to determine whether it was one that I knew or not, even as I approached and lowered myself into the tiny crevice. It was deep enough that I immediately noticed that my feet could not touch the ground beneath me, so I simply let go assuming that I would land maybe a foot or two below me. That was far from the case as it turned out. I must have fell a good fifteen feet before landing on my feet, bending my knees as I landed to cushion the landing. I was in a hollow rounded sort of area that reminded me of an arena. The floor was flat and perfect for combat, and as I came to this realization I also came to the conclusion that this had been a trap. They had me surrounded, one by one their eyes came into view glowing like beautiful demons in this abyss. I clinched my fist and readied myself for a fight like I had not seen in years. I knew it would take all my strength to make it out of this one alive, well undead.

The figures closed in rapidly, they were wearing worn out clothes for the most part some better dressed than others. “Nothing here but a bunch of savages,” I muttered as I spit onto the ground. Then came the jingling of chains as one of them approached from within the surrounding group. The group parted as he walked towards me, immediately I recognized him as Reaver.

“So look what the light has drug into the darkness. Where might your flunky and that worthless haud nomen be hiding?” He smirked wickedly, “Did they abandon you after seeing how weak you are?
How you were unable to protect them or that entire church from little old me?” He laughed sinisterly.

“You'll never find them. They are safe hidden away from the likes of you.” I said staring him straight in the eye.

“My dear phoenix no where is safe from me. I thought you would have learned that lesson by now. Well I guess it is too late for that now. As you can see there is no escape this time. Death by light above you, and death by us around you. I hope you have said your final fair wells!” He charged at me, as did the rest of the mass. I was clearly out numbered, but far from out maneuvered. I knew Reaver could not fight well in a group, and judging by him not realizing that the light could not kill me I had the perfect plan to escape.

I dodged his first attack, grabbing one of the other attackers I spun him around me using him as a shield against the other attackers. I then jumped above the group and flung the now lifeless corpse into the mob, knocking several to the floor. Reaver suddenly appeared behind me as I did though, barely leaving me time to dodge an attack to my back. As his momentum carried him past me I kicked him in the back sending him flying face first into the ground. I landed several feet away, immediately having to fend off blows from all sides. Out of desperation as Reaver began to stand again I performed a sweeping kick to my surrounding opponents knocking them on their backs, and charged at Reaver. He was still dazed so I managed to catch him off guard and pin him against a wall momentarily, but I had to dodge away quickly as an attacker lunged at me from behind me once more. His claws wounded Reaver's stomach as I flipped over his head. A look of anger came over Reaver's face as he realized his injury and he immediately lashed out at his accidental foe eviscerating him in one swift movement. Bleeding he backed away into the darkness to heal, leaving his underlings to dispose of me.

The fight was now completely even, I had a clear shot at victory. That however was not my plan. I wanted to make them think that I was dead, I needed a clear shot to escape into the light. Another flurry of blows came at me as I formulated my escape plot. Ducking I ripped out one of their intestines and threw it around another's neck, pulling him to the ground so I could rip out his neck before leaping away again. I had to hand it to these guys, they fought fearlessly even while not being able to touch me and watching their comrades fall at my hands. Soon enough though I had whittled their numbers down to fifteen, and I decided that enough was enough. After performing one last leg sweep and throwing one of the remaining standing ones into the others I jump high into the air, transforming into a bat and flew out the top of the cave where I had entered. There was a murmur of gasps as I flew away, into what they perceived as suicide.
Once outside I took my normal form again and dashed back to the den to relay what had occurred, as well as the location of at least one of the entrances to the other. Upon my arrival seeing me blood stained and weary they provided me with fresh blood and allowed me to rest before speaking of our next move. I think I will use the rest of my time left to plan, there can be no rest for the weary.


May 11, 2000. Continued.

It seemed to me that there was as of yet not safe way to penetrate their den. The reconnaissance mission while being an overall failure yielded us a very valuable trump card, if used correctly. We will have to use that to our advantage, so I will have to lay low for what will hopefully be a short time.

Almost immediately after I came to this conclusion I heard a ruckus from outside my room. I knew it could not possibly be the Iron Sickle, they would not have been able to get through the protective barriers that quickly. With a calm swiftness I slid beneath my door out into the corridor. It was immediately noticeable that Solstice was the root of the situation. She was storming around pinning people against the wall asking where she was. I chuckled a little knowing this was something that was likely to happen. Completely unnoticed I made my way through the crowd of lycans to where Solstice was holding one of the lycans against the wall threatening to eviscerate it. Hoping that she was sufficiently distracted I made to grab her under her arms. Sensing me she launched her elbow into my face hitting me right between the eyes sending me flying into the wall opposing us.

Before I was even sure what happened I found her knee pressed hard into my gut with her hands around my throat. “Why did you bring me here?” She hissed in my face, “Why weren't you around when I woke?”

“Calm down Solstice,” I said placing my hands on her wrist. “You were in a safe room. A fight came up, I had to get us to safety. We're with Talia's clan”

She kneed me in the stomach once more causing my hands move from her wrist and moved her hands from my neck, “Never move me without waking me again. Do not think that I will not kill you, sanctuary or not I will not tolerate that.” She stood and looked at the surrounding group with a look that conveyed her deep distrust for lycans, slowly moving her eyes to the late arriving group of Jack, Jane, Fauzt and several others.

I stood, grasping my gut, waving the crowd away. Slowly I walked towards the rest of the group, shrugging off the abdominal pain on my way. Jane glared at Solstice as she sauntered her way to us, who glared back with a seemingly equal resentment. It was all at once too tense for me, so I began preparing myself to stop a fight. Tensing even further as Fauzt began to speak, “Fireraven, what have you learned about this Iron Sickle and the Stardust Cabal? And what the fuck was that about?”

Solstice moved her gaze to meet Fauzt's eyes. “He moved me without notice. Got a problem with the way I work?”

He glared back and began to speak but I cut him off, “Fauzt I find an entrance, as you probably guessed. Let us just sit down and discuss that. Everything else is done and over.”

He turned to face me a spark of angry fire in his eyes, “No one attacks my pack in my den especially not someone as threatening to our existence as her.”

“The past is the past Fauzt, even your father learned to forgive her. You can not hold on to grudges when you live as long as we do, it is not conducive to the peace and will cause your death. Be sensible Fauzt..” He glared at me as I said this.

“I will let it be for now but if any member of this pack is injured due to her then I will have your head,” he snorted, continuously looking back and forth at Solstice and I.

Solstice smirked, “If I wanted your pack dead I would have managed that long ago. Wolves are so fragile after all.” She snickered slapping Fauzt's cheek in a playful taunting manner.

As they stared each other down I motioned to Jack and Jane to follow me, and began walking towards the room we had designated for meetings. Soon Solstice followed with Fauzt not far behind her. Maybe now we could come to reason about this, but nothing is ever certain. Soon though we were all calmly seated around a table within the room as I caught Solstice up and relayed the rest of my story to everyone.

Jack was the first to speak up after I finished speaking. “I never saw the inside of a cave in my captivity. They kept me in a house or sewer during the day, always guarded.”

“Why did you never mention this before?” I inquired confused.

“It never seemed relevant. I was never in the same place multiple nights in a row.” He said.

“Then why would it be any different now?” said Jane, still staring Solstice down.

Solstice laughed as she replied, “Because they might have their den connected to the sewage system. It would be the easiest point of access to the city.”

“Precisely.” Jack smiled widely, “That might be our point of infiltration.”

“Very well. What of these houses? If you know the locations we can find out whether or not they are connected to their tunnel system as well.” Fauzt looked hopefully at Jack.

“No, but give me an hour or so and I can give you a map of where they had me in the sewage system. It will not be much but it is better than nothing.” said Jack.

“That will help immensely.” I said smiling at him. “Perhaps this will give me the perfect opportunity to finally get the upper hand on Reaver. I say we all meet back here in about an hour. I want to log this and I will catch up with the rest of you as soon as I am through.” The rest of the group agreed with this and we dispersed. Jack stayed in the room while Solstice made her way back to her own, Jane followed me back to mine, while Fauzt went to the main den in order to tend to his pack and update them on the situation. I have a good feeling about this.

Finally an opportunity to surprise Reaver and take him out for good.


May 11, 2000. Continued.

Jane stared quietly at me the entire time I spent writing, which I admit was a bit unnerving. I am not sure why but her doing nothing while I am busy just seemed like a waste to me. I will need to address on this eventually she needs to have fun when she can, and if anywhere is safe enough to in our present predicament this is the place. Hopefully we will be here long enough for her to enjoy herself. I know that will happen if all goes according to plan.

I hugged her tightly after I finished and we left to go meet up with Fauzt while we waited on Jack. We came upon him in the den where he was talking to a group of his clan mates about the possibility of an all out battle soon. There was some definite fear in their eyes, but none were speaking of anything that sounded even remotely like defeat. However, almost as if they were avoiding us all but Fauzt dispersed as we approached. I will never understand lycans, my only possible explanation for this action is that it must be an alpha thing.

Fauzt seemed unusually cheerful as he greeted us his eyes glowing with the same fighting spirit of his father, “ I trust all is going well. My clan is ready for a surprise attack as soon you have found a good entrance to their lair.”

I smiled back at him grasping his hand, “I am glad to hear so. As soon as Jack has the layout drawn out I will do so. With any luck we can perform a surprise attack within the next day.”

He grinned and turned to Jane, “I do not think you should participate in the upcoming battle. Please do not get me wrong I am not trying to underestimate you, but with the rivalry you and Solstice seem to have I do not trust her not to turn on us to kill you. She has a history of such action.”

Jane's eyes widened learning this, “What do you mean that she has a history of such action?” She looked at me with a menacing glare.

“It was a long time ago, and I can not tell you why she did it.” I said looking deeply into her eyes. “We were in the middle of a great war between gods, immortals and mortal creatures. Representing the Vampire race was the Cabal of the Civilized Five and the Stardust Cabal on opposing sides. Originally Solstice was with us, but in one of the most devastating battles against lycan kind Solstice swapped sides and used her powers to subdue Talia's clan while the Stardust vampires slaughtered them. She claims she had no idea that it was Talia's clan, but either way she stopped her part of the assault with a look of shock upon her face when she witnessed Talia fall. Fauzt's father almost killed her for it.”

She looked down with a worried glance, “I think it will be safer that way. I became a Vampire to change my life for the better, to be born again not to die. Especially not by the hands of an ally, even if I can not stand her. Fireraven she is your friend and I respect that, even though she is a savage.”

“I understand,” I said as I hugged her tightly, “I do not wish to see your death and I do not want you fighting in this battle. It will be too risky for you.”

“I'm glad that's settled,” said Fauzt, “now let us go check up on Jack's progress. Fireraven,” he turned to face me, our eyes meeting, “after we all get a good luck I want you to take the sketches to memorize. I realize that I have no place in telling you to do so, but I desperately want this menace destroyed.”

“I understand Fauzt. They have cause you great pain, and believe it or not the news of so many deaths in your clan causes me anguish as well. I know I know not the extent that you feel it, but having lost friends and mates in the past I can sympathize with you. They were my allies as well.” I placed my hand upon his shoulder and he grunted which seemed to be his way of lightly acknowledging of my understanding. We then walked to the room to meet up with Jack and review the lay outs.

He was still hard at work when we entered. The rough sketches were less than I had hoped for but about as good as could have been expected. After all he had limited access the areas in question. However, the areas of the city where the entrances to the sewer are located were clearly marked. It was a good start, now all I need to do is formulate a plan to sneak in and out without being seen. I have some ideas, but I am not certain yet. I have decided to ask for Solstice's help this time though. I do not think she will stick around for long any other way, and she is essential for this battle.

May 12, 2000

It did not take me long to memorize the layouts. They were simple but definitely effective enough for me to get in. All I needed was to persuade Solstice to help me investigate sewers. At the point I decided to go and ask this of her Jane was in the room quizzing me on the maps and I had to ask her to stay behind while I went to Solstice's room. She gave me a saddened look and hugged me as I stood up to leave surprising me with a kiss on the neck, causing me to blush. She giggled as I scurried out of the room and down the hall.

Solstice's door glowed brightly with a sun symbol as I opened it. Immediately she pinned me to the ground growling until she realized who I was. “You should not have come in without knocking, I was about to kill you.”

“You should know that I am the only one who can enter this room. You are far too paranoid Solstice.” I smirked as I slipped out from underneath her.

“Why are you in here?” She said continuing to growl.

I laughed, “You should know. When do I ever enter your room except when asking for help?” I paused gaging her reaction which as expected remained a glare. “As you know I am going to find the den of Iron Sickle. I need your assistance, but you can not kill anyone this round.”
“You dare ask me not to kill? Do you even realize who you are speaking to?” She yelled her glare changing into a glower.

“I know Solstice! Who else could I go to though. No one else here is as strong as you, or as stealthy. Jack would be useful but they all know his scent, he's a marked man to them.” I sighed, “Also think about this, the longer it takes the longer it will be until you can kill massive amounts of foes.”

For a long time she contemplated before replying, “Flattery will get you everywhere. Just know if we get caught they will all die, and then I will kill you.”

“Fair enough. Here are the copies of the maps so that you can study them if you wish. I have to get some things ready though, my blades need some resharpening just in case.” I said as I made my exit, Solstice yelling about my death as the door closed.

I laughed smiling about my success as I walked back to spend some time with Jane before I prepared for the mission. I think I will take her around the den to get us more acquainted with the clan. She needs it as much as I do, I have been a loner far too long. Perhaps I am finally ready to move on.


May 12, 2000. Continued.

Jane was sulking with boredom when I returned to the room, but her eyes lit up as soon as she saw me. “Miss me?” I smirked.

She blushed deeply stammering her response, “I... I... shut up... you know I don't know anyone else here. They're all so strange I didn't think such things could exist. Jack seems to fit in more he has been everywhere getting to know everyone.”

“Well then it is time for us to mingle with the underground society. I think it would be good for both of us to become more acquainted with these newly transformed beasts. If we are to be fighting along side them we will need to let them know we are friendly.” I grasped her hand and pulled her towards me.

She smiled, “Sounds wonderful. Sooner or later though I will need you to explain something to me though that doesn't settle quite right with me.” She followed me out of the room, her hand clinging tightly to mine.

We walked into the main den which as usual was filled with the activity of clan members. Some were talking, others were wrestling, while still some of the others were dancing to music emanating from several battery operated boom boxes. The place was alive with the youthful energy of the modern age. You could tell that these were not the same kinds of beasts from the old world.

Drawn to the music she pulled me towards where it was coming from. It was some kind of rock that I believe I have heard called metal before, though I do not know the band or the name of the song. As we got closer to the sound she drew me close and started dancing with me. This drew several of the lycans into a group dancing around us. It was an odd scene to me, especially considering the fact that I can not dance to this kind of music. I stumbled a little at first attempting not to step on her feet. As I struggled I noticed that a majority of the lycans surrounding us were not even dancing but instead jumping around banging their heads back and forth like animals, some of them were even massing together pushing and slamming into one another. In all my years I have never experienced anything like this, and all the while I found their movements simplistic and barbaric I also found it full of a primal energy that I had not experienced before but found quite befitting what little beauty wolf kind had.

I am not sure how long the dancing frenzy lasted but eventually it died down and we settle into the crowd. Jane was ecstatic. I had never seen her happy like this before she was positively glowing like a dark angel. I have to admit I was joyous as well, I needed this kind of event. Soon various members of the clan were coming up to us to talk. Most were complimenting us. Conversations were soon flowing as if we had known them for years, especially with Jane. They spoke of music this thing called pop culture. I was lost though out most of it though, I enjoyed myself none the less. Things only got better when one of the lycans recognized Jane. They had known each other from school. The girl had graduated and Jane had not seen her for over a year.

After a while of them talking Jane realized that she had not introduced either of us to the other one. Her name was Felicia, she had pale grayish silver eyes with brown hair and she wore clothes that revealed far too much skin for my taste. The two talked just as old friends would, Jane occasionally clinging onto me like a piece of arm candy, each surprised that the other had joined the ranks of the immortal. Then came Jack smiling.

“I am glad to see that you two have finally come out of your shells. I was getting worried that the two of you were antisocial. Afraid they might bite?” he said barely containing his laughter.

“Oh yes a vampire afraid of biting.” I joked back. “I personally have just been too busy to socialize.”

“I know, I know,” he said said as he patted me on the back. “Let us go and be merry. We all need to relax before the battle ahead of us.”

“Only too true.” I said noticing a bottle in his hand. “So is the preacher drinking?”

“Some of them stole some beer. There is even a keg somewhere in here. I suggest we all drink and let loose. Who knows maybe you will have some fun.” He smiled and began dragging us towards the alcohol. We spent the rest of the night drinking and dancing in the crowd. It was a wondrous day, and by the end of it I could barely sharpen my blades I was so intoxicated. I need to focus now though. In a few hours Solstice and I leave for the mission and I need to have my wits about me. I am going to sleep until then.

May 13, 2000.

My head was in splitting pain when I woke up. Vampires have a ridiculously low tolerance for alcohol due to our blood running so thinly through our veins, unless we've fed very recently. Dazed I slid out from underneath Jane making sure not to wake her. As I stood I realized that I was completely in the buff, as was Jane. Heavily blushing I clothed myself and staggered out of the room, still feeling a slight buzz from the night before. I desperately needed to feed to help me sober, but that would have to be done on the way to the city.

I blundered my way into Solstice's room, finding her completely ready to go and waiting on me. She seemed to be incredibly angry upon seeing me growling as she spoke, “What in Hades took you so long? You said you just needed to sharpen your blades and we would be off, and what do we have here? Stumbling movements? Alcohol on your breath? My nose may not be the most sensitive around but I could smell that a mile away.” She rushed at me kneeing me in the stomach before I could even react and then threw me across the room head first into a wall. “You are even still drunk! Your reaction time is below that of a youngling! Did that wench of yours put you up to this?”

The headache was now hurting even worse as my anger rose to nearly a peak and my vision went red. I charged at Solstice pinning her against the wall. She merely laughed and kicked me in the stomach, this time it did not phase me though. Her eyes widened and she began kicking harder and harder, I never even winced once. Blinded by rage I went to head butt her, but she changed to mist right before contact and my head collided violently into the wall. She solidified behind me hoping to catch me dazed and off guard. This however was not the case and before she even knew what happened I had kicked her into the wall with such a force that she collapsed to the ground screaming out in agony and surprise. Seeing what I had done I calmed down my vision clearing simultaneously. I helped her up against her will and she glared at me as she dusted herself off.

“Do not fuck with me right now. I need to feed so I can concentrate, and so that you know it was the damned preacher that put me up to this. So leave Jane out of this.” we glared at one another momentarily before walking out of the room. We barely looked at each other for the remainder of the journey. I managed to catch a deer on the way out, and spent a majority of the time before exiting the woods catching any and every living thing that crossed my path. By the time we reached the city I was completely sober, though my head was still aching somewhat.

It was dusk at this time. The streets were all but empty, just as we had hoped for. This would give us easiest access to the sewers without being noticed. We both bent down to remove the man hole cover at the same time causing our heads to almost collide. We glowered at each other momentarily before I ripped the cover off, threw it into Solstice's hands and jumped down onto the passageway. Soon she followed and we were on our way towards the outskirts of the city. The path was a lot different that I had assumed it would be. It seemed that the sewage was completely contained to these giant pipes that ran down the center the passageway with lights spaced out on the ceiling every six to nine feet apart.

We continued for what seemed like miles along this passage. Eventually Solstice began dragging her claws along the pipe resulting in a menacing grinding noise, sparks flew off as her claws as they left gouges in the pipe. This agitated my head further, only making me ready to attack the first thing that provoked me. After a few miles of this the pipes disappeared upwards into the ceiling of the tunnel and the tunnel ended. Solstice scowled as we began searching for any kind of exit in the tunnel. I searched along the walls, using my nails to help find crevices, checking for some kind of secret entrance to the next series of tunnels. It had not been long before we heard a mysterious grinding noise, and within moments a section of the wall began withdrawing into itself. Knowing that we only had a few seconds to hide we scattered. I hid by making myself thin and short in a corner while Solstice crawled up the wall and turned into a black widow spider.

I half expected to see Reaver emerge but that was not the case. So I assumed it was just a hunting party, until I noticed that they did not carry the scent of the Iron Sickle. They were clearly from the original Stardust line, finally proving the link between Stardust and the Iron Sickle once and for all. I had to assume that these were older more militarized vampires, far from the crude younglings of the Iron Sickle that I had become accustomed to. They did not seem to notice us, and after resealing the passageway they left. We waited a few minutes after they had passed to ensure that they had not discovered before making our way out of hiding.

“Well that was close. Why do you think they were here?” I asked Solstice, as I placed my shoulder against the block they had moved and began moving it.

She gave me the evil eye as she responded, “If I had two guesses it would either be that they heard about your death or some sort of official meeting. It doesn't even matter at this point they have left, we just need to get through this mission and get back to the den.”

I acknowledged her with a grunt as I resealed the passage behind us. The tunnel we found ourselves in was a lot tighter than the sewers. We made our way through me in front with her following not far behind until we reached the area where the tunnel widened and split off in multiple directions. At this time we decided that it would be best if we stuck together until we reached the core of their den, so we kept going. As we got closer we began running into members of the clan, in each case we hid as we had before. After about an hour of this the tunnels became caverns teaming with vampires. We both drew into the shadows and split up immediately.

I made my way quickly through the naturally occurring maze seeking out Reaver's scent, which seemed to be everywhere. At first this caused some problems due to me running into several dead ends, but within half an hours time I was close enough to feel him out through his auric signature. As I got closer I noticed several things. The vampires began to look and feel older and more powerful, the caverns were carved out looking more like an ancient underground palace or temple than anything else, and there seemed to be a less dense population in these areas. Taking this into context I decided that if I could find an exit here that it would be the best place to invade. It would allow us to crush their main force in an act of blitzkrieg as well as providing us with an area that would be easy to fortify.

I began searching all the corridors and rooms for a way out. This was a pain staking and long drawn out process. I knew for a fact that there would only be one and safely assumed that it would be near Reaver's room. Taking this into careful consideration I crawled onto the ceiling and made myself thin to help avoid him from detecting me as I approached, hoping to find the exit before reaching him. Inevitably though I came upon him and a group of several members of the Stardust Cabal. Startled and afraid I reached out to Solstice in an attempt to draw her near enough that she could use her ability to cloud their minds long enough for me to assassinate all of them at once. I carefully noted their conversation as I did so.

“It is really a pity the queen has summoned you,” laughed a maniacal voice that I recognized as belonging to Sheograd, the lankiest and most insane of the cabal.

“You do not know that. She will congratulate me on my progress and on the slaying of Fireraven.” Reaver said in his calm calculative manner.

Sheograd laughed even harder at this and another one that I recognized as Lacertos, the most muscular of all the cabal members, spoke up. “She is unimpressed with his demise. You know Queen Solstice,” my heart froze at that name, “could have disposed of him any time that she wished. Your squabble with him is meaningless,”

I completely lost track of them momentarily as thoughts of Solstice being the leader of the enemy cabal raced through my mind, until I heard something that drew my full attention back to them. It was Sheograd speaking again, “I think she'll dispose of you just as she did her entire family, including that grad daughter of her name sake. You are about as useful as any of them, or useless as I should say.” He broke off cackling at this point, “Perhaps she will keep you around as a lap dog if you are lucky.”

Reaver glared contemptuously at him for a moment thinking carefully before he replied, “I have yet to fail her. Plans for this region are moving far more quickly than scheduled and just because none of you bumbling rejects have ever been able to gain her praise does not mean that I have not earned that honor. In fact I do believe that she has greater plans in store for me that she does not trust any of you with the knowledge of.”

“We shall see.” Sheograd scoffed nudging Lacertos in an attempt to make him show any sort of expression. “Moonlight is short though we must be on our way to your funeral.” They all proceeded out of the room they were in and down the corridor into a room a had not noticed before. It was small and shabby, with a small shaft leading to the surface. They all took the form of a bat and left just as Solstice arrived behind me.

Biding a few minutes time before our exit I explained to her what I had learned about her lineage. She seemed shocked and angered by this news, but a strange fire burned in her eyes like I had never seen before. It was a look not only of vengeance but that of deepest betrayal. I honestly thought she was about to start rampaging throughout the structure killing everyone in sight. Then without speaking she turned into a bat and took flight from the cave. I followed her as quickly as I could fearing that she was going after the cabal members alone, but instead before I knew it she had led us back to Fauzt's den.

Hastily she stormed into his room demanding a conference with his most trusted men. She then turned to me and demanded that I bring Jack along. This was to be a council of full on war, a war even more personal than even I can conceive at this point. She gave us one hour to be ready, demanding blood while she waited. I could tell this was going to be intense. I can only imagine what she has planned at this point. Family was the one thing she held sacred.


May 13, 2000. Continued.

I had been gone maybe twenty minutes writing the last entry before I ventured to the council room, only to find it completely in chaos. Books and book case alike were strewn across the floor, the conference table had claw marks on it and Solstice had Fauzt pinned to the wall by his neck with the rest of his men stunned in the daze of her mind clouding technique. The two were still arguing with each other as Fauzt tried to force Solstice's hand from his throat.

“Do you really think your little army scares me, Fauzt?” She was glaring into his eyes as fended away his hands as he tried to punch her face. “You hold no more power here than I do, and you will not tell me that I of all Vampires can not call an emergency meeting.”

Struggling and choking Fauzt barked back, “This is my dominion only I can call a meeting here. Fireraven is an exception because of his membership in the cabal.” I intervened at this point by pushing Solstice off of him and forming a defensive stance between the two. Their eyes met and they soon began pacing around me. There was fire in both of their eyes. I made an attempt at speaking to ease the tension which Fauzt took as a break in my attention span and made for an attack. Luckily Solstice clouded his mind the second he moved to attack.

She glared at me briefly, “You are lucky that you have too strong of a will for me to cloud your mind. I would have you taking my orders if I could.”

I changed my stance to a more casual one as I began to speak, “As you know that I am reasonable though. I help you, and then you help me. I thought you knew how it went by now. This was my war far before it was your family feud. I will call the meeting if I must.”

“Let the mutt touch me and he dies. Understand?” she said.

“Agreed.” As I made that statement she released them their state. Fauzt made a quick dart for Solstice and I had to apprehend him with a full nelson. He struggled at first but soon calmed down. “Fauzt no matter if you are in or out we are having this meeting. As I have gathered you were sent here to sniff out and destroy the Stardust clans in this area. Based upon that I believe it is in our mutual interests to agree to this war meeting.”

“Fine. Under my conditions though. How soon do we need to act?” Fauzt asked as I released him.

“As quickly as possible. I do not know how long Reaver will be gone for but now is our chance for a surprise attack. We obliterate most of what he has done to this region in one well planned strike.” I said.

“That is all I need to know,” he glared at Solstice for a moment and then looked me in the eyes. “You two have your meeting I want no part of it. You and only you may inform me of the strategy.” He made his way angrily from the room followed by his clan mates.

I turned my attention to Solstice, “So what are we going to do now? He's too aggressive towards you for your clouding minds ability to not slow him down at least.”

“I have an idea, but we will have to make it a day light attack. I learned something recently that will make this work. Tell that scum bag to have his men bring me at least a barrel of blood, preferably human. It will be needed for regeneration.” She had a wicked grin on her face as she said this.

“Solstice what do you have in mind?” I said.

“You will just have to wait and find out.” Her grin deepened as she spoke, “ I shall notify you when I have finished and you will thank modern warfare fore this weapon.”

“I will trust you on this. I hope no one survives to see what ever you have concocted though. We do not need some one trying to copy it.”

As I began to walk away she replied, “No one can replicate my work. Put more faith in my lust to kill.”
I chuckled and went to give out Solstice's orders. Fauzt reluctantly agreed to the request. I think I will spend the rest of the night with Jane and her friends. I am not sure yet.

May 14, 2000


Last night was an eventful one to be sure. Jane's friend Felicia is a wild one to be sure. There was no way I could keep up with the pair. I swear they must have drank at least three bottles of whiskey and half a bottle of vodka to themselves. Horrid nasty stuff to drink unless it has been mixed in my opinion, but they seemed to take to the stuff like a fish to water. I refused to drink myself though, I knew I had war to wage in the morning. Until then they would be my comedic relief, dancing all over each other all through the night. A few times they even came at me with what I would consider to be a reckless inhibition. Each attempt was quite a scene.

It would start with Felicia whispering in Jane's ear. They would then giggle and whisper back and forth for a minute before pulling me out of my seat and dancing with me for a few minutes. That is if you could call it dancing. I would have called it standing dry sex if anything, but these are strange times. After dancing for a few minutes Jane would move so that she was facing me and begin kissing me. This as always was a much welcomed occurrence. Soon after though her friend would move to her place take over while Jane simultaneously began kissing down my body and then switch off. The drunken pair were like a couple of dogs in heat, it was almost disgraceful. They seemed to enjoy it though. Each time they did this they would inevitably start to get a little to frisky though and attempt things that were not appropriate for the public setting of the den. When it got to this I would have to pry them off somewhat forcibly each time. I honestly if we had been in my room they would have tried to rape me. This was the cycle until about three in the morning though when they began to pass out from over drinking and I escorted them back to their rooms. Jane tried to drag me into bed with her when I laid her down I am almost terrified at the thought of remembering what actually happened the night before now. I am old fashioned I do not want or have the need for more than one mate.

At this point I decided it would probably be a good idea to go and feed. I left the confines of the cave seeking fresh blood. The weather was cool and it was misting. It was a seemingly perfect night, well early morning at this point. I made my way through the nearby woods until I found a deer. It was alone sleeping, its tiny legs curled up delicately beneath it. I seemed drawn to it for some reason other than my hunger. I could not help but sneak up to it admiring the creature's beauty. As I stalked up beside it I could not help but caress its silky tan fur. This caused it to wake, which startled me at first, and I assumed it would be startled make a mad dash to leave. To my surprise it did not though instead it looked me in the eyes and yawned. Soon it rubbed its head into my hand as I was petting it. I smiled at the poor thing wondering if it had any idea what I was about to do. In truth I was far from worried about whether it did or not. After all I would not take enough to kill it, she was far too cute of a fawn. I smiled at the adorable creature as I slipped my hand over its eyes putting it to sleep. It collapsed onto the ground with a soft thud, and I descended upon it. The blood seemed different than a normal deer somehow. I could not quite place it but there was something strange about this creature, something almost familiar.

I drank my fill and took leave from the scene. I decided to go check on Solstice's project. It had me confused. What had she come across? What kind of technology could she have come across that would interest her? I mean after all it takes a lot to even pique her interest, however, the killing part clearly explain why it peeked her interest. These thoughts clouded my mind until I reached her room, and knocked upon the door. There was silence. I gritted my teeth and tried to open the door, only to find that it had been barred from the inside. I fumed for a moment wondering why the hell she would keep me of all people out of her room, and then suddenly made myself thin and slid beneath the doorway. Feeling crafty I sneaked about keeping out of her sight. I was not in the mood for another one of Solstice's legendary thrashings. She was laying on her bed gasping loudly, sweat pouring from her brow. Curious I positioned myself for a better view of the seen, accidentally moving under some kind of canister in the process. It was cylindrical shaped with a hinged v-shaped metal clasp at the end which led to a rubber stopper. I took a closer look at Solstice's activity and realized that there was an iv leading from her arm to a canister. I watched in wonder as she filled one of the canisters with her blood. It smoked as she removed the tubing from the canister and secured the rubber stopper.

Shocked and confused by what I had just witnessed I left the room as silently as I had entered and went back to my own room. Jane was still sleeping soundly when I returned. I smiled at her adorable form and for some reason could no help but think of the deer in the woods. It is still on my mind for some reason, even more so than Solstice's odd device. Maybe it is just some lingering effects of the alcohol from yesterday? I am going to try to sleep it off until everyone is ready for battle.



May 14, 2000. Continued.

I was awoken by Solstice tossing me out of bed. Irritated I turned to her and began berating her for the rude awakening. She promptly cut me off with a look that warned against angering her. Clearly this demon of a being was in no mood to play games. Which when it comes to fighting surprised me more than most anything. I assume this was all due to the personal nature that this war had taken on for her. After all she had believed herself to be the only surviving member of her bloodline for a long time.

I grumbled looking herself in the eyes as I began to speak. “Is everyone assembled?”

“Assemble for me? You know they loathe me.” She said with an angry tone and a fire in her eyes. “Those mutts have been lazing about all day. I don't understand them. This was their mission to begin with!” Her voice began to raise and she began making swooping motions with her arms. “Fauztin's mangy pup was charged with this, and now that I am involved they lose their will! I go out of my way to make weapons for this and they lie down like the mange ridden pups that they are!” She was breathing heavily after this.

I took a slow, deep breath and began speaking, “I will get them then. Just go prepare your weapons.” Wary of her what her response might be I placed my hand on her shoulder, sighing in relief when she did not attack me. “It should be expected for them to hate you after all. You, did assist in killing the pups mother.” I walked off as I said this Solstice clenching her hands in rage. For a moment I thought she would charge me, but for some reason she just stood their. I could sense a mingle of rage and sorrowful regret in her aura. She had never meant to cause harm to Fauztin's clan or his lover. As we all know though intentions and realities are two different things when it comes to manipulation.

Annoyed, I made my way towards Fauzt's chamber. This was ridiculous we were all allies in a war and here I was acting like a messenger. I know I am one of the leaders. That fact has never once eluded me, and sure taking a nap was not the wisest of ideas. However, Fauzt was raised for this purpose. It is in his upbringing to take down Stardust at all costs. With this on my mind I marched like an angry demon. Everyone seemed to notice and in response cleared a path for my passage. When I arrived at Fauzt's door I simply slid beneath it, silently entering the room. He was facing away from me fiddling with small dagger of some sorts. Smiling a wicked bit of a smile I spoke up to startle. “Why are the men not ready?” He jumped at the sound of my voice almost falling over. “Did we not agree to go to battle today? I know I was napping, but there is no excuse for this!” I eyed him with an angry expression and watched as he backed away slightly.

“I, I told Solstice to go and wake you. Did she not?” He stammered, his eyes barely making contact with mine.

I eyed him more aggressively. “If that were the case you would have began assembling your attack squad. Do not lie to me. Just because your father is a close personal friend of mine does not mean that I will go easy on you.” I gave him a wicked sort of grin as I wrapped my arm around his shoulders. He tried to back away as I did this, but I only gripped him harder. “This is war, not some game of personal vendettas. I expect everyone who will be going on this venture to be assembled within the half hour.” I released him from my grip at this point, “Now get a move on. We don't have all day.”

I went back to find Solstice. She was sitting in the main den, her face was sullen with distinct signs of anger still upon it. I walked up beside her, “They have thirty minutes to assemble. If they are not ready we are leaving without them.” I smirked, I knew we could do this without them, but I wanted to see where Fauzt's loyalties lay. I know he was on my side. The only real fear was him being completely against Solstice. All we could do was wait at this point. For the first twenty minutes we waited without words and without moving. No one came. I began pacing for the last ten minutes. I became angry and made my way towards the exit. Solstice followed with a very bewildered look. As I made it to the end of the room I heard Fauzt call out behind me. “Wait. It took a while to gather them.” I turned around to look at him. There were about twenty. He looked somber, “I'm sorry I brought so few, but as I have explained this pack is freshly turned. Many are still fighting with the idea of killing, even that which hunts them.”

I smiled, “This will do. This will do just fine.” I turned to the small militia sized unit of lycans and began to speak. “This is a sneak attack. We need show no mercy. Once there we need to fan out and wait for Solstice's word to move in. When we arrive I will direct each group to the infiltration points.” I watched their faces to ensure that they understood what I had said. When I saw their signs of acknowledgment I made the motion to move out, Solstice, Fauzt and I leading the pack. As we swiftly moved through the forest on the pack transformed into their werewolf forms. This should not be associated with the lycans I mentioned previously that were under Reaver's control. These in fact do keep more of a human form. We arrived in perhaps thirty minutes time. Solstice grinned mischievously looking down at her satchel full of canisters. She asked us to wait while she went down into the den alone at first. Fauzt immediately began to protest.

“Why should we wait down here while you set up a trap to kill us all?” he said in a low growl.

Solstice laughed as she responded, “A trap would be asking you to follow me in.” She smirked and looked confidently into the lycan leader's eyes. “After all my job is to disable our enemy, not aid them.” Her eyes narrowed, “Though show me much more distrust and perhaps I will indulge myself by killing you?” Without a look back she dove into the cave, two canisters in hand. Moments later smoke came billowing out of the hole that marked the entrance. The smoke was a thin, wispy kind very closely resembling fog. I watched for about ten minutes as this strange smoke began appearing in various other oddly spaced out locations. We watched in suspense for about ten minutes until Solstice jumped out of the hole and about fifteen feet above our heads, landing in the crouching position. “It has been done.” She rose to her feet with an odd triumphant expression upon her face. “Most of the enemy is in a large central chamber. My gas has them completely unconscious, though many were already asleep. This will be a ruthless slaughter befitting a history text book.” Her eyes filled with blood lust, “Fireraven and Fauzt, we should check the other rooms for any that were not in the bed chamber. I can lead everyone there first. Then we will split up.” Without hesitating to see if there were any objections she dove back into the entrance. Hastily we all took pursuit.

There was a quick rush through the rough stone passageways. The chambers were in the opposite direction of Reaver's section of the compound. It only took minutes to get to our destination. The room was large and deep like a cavern, but everything had clearly been carved out of the stone itself. There were perhaps two hundred vampires, they were all completely unconscious. I almost felt bad carrying out their execution like this. Their leaders and their uncontrollable violent tendencies brought this upon them though. I watched as the pack descended upon the defenseless sleepers. It was dishonorable but needed.

As I began walking out of the room I yelled out one last order, “Pile their bodies in the center of the room and burn them. Make sure to scatter their ashes so they can never reform.” Solstice, had already left without my realizing it. That was to be expected though. She probably could not wait for the bloodshed. Fauzt took to following me. We quickly made our way through the rest of the complex, piling the few unconscious foes we found in the hall way to pick up on the way back. Altogether Fauzt and I only found ten in the other sections of the cavern. We failed to come across Solstice until we made it back to the chamber that housed the main slaughter. She had a smug grin on her face, and was lighting the fire to the soon to be massive bonfire in the room's center.
“Where did you go?” I asked confused by our lack of her presence. “I thought we should have been able to find you somewhere in the compound.”

“I found a secret chamber.” She looked at me, licking some wet blood off of her hands, “I found what I believe were some of the leaders of the Iron Sickle.”

“That means Reaver should be the only surviving member of this sect of the Stardust Cabal.” Fauzt mumbled. “I can finally go home then. Back to see father.” There was an expression of joy and longing in his eyes.

“Perhaps, but what of your clan here? Do they not need your leadership?” I replied.

“They are not warriors.” He smirked looking at me. “I was lucky to get these to fight. They do not have the violent spirit of the werewolf. There is no place for them in our world. Only a place for them to have a secret immortal society. Maybe once they have matured, but not now. Times are too simple here to breed effective warriors. They will be fine alone until then.” A look of relief came over his face as he said this. I nodded acknowledging what he said. I could not rely on this pack to help in hunting down Reaver. I would not need them either, Jane and Jack would be enough for now.


With this knowledge I left the battlefield today and returned to Fauzt's den. Jane was still asleep in my bed when I returned, it was a warming sight indeed. I think I will join her and sort out the rest of this mess tomorrow. I will need to find out where Solstice stands on helping us. That can wait until I awake though.

May 15, 2000

The aftermath of the recent events should fold out simply from this point. Fauzt and I had a meeting concerning his return to Europe. We decided that it would be best if he took word to his father, Fauztin, and Alexander of the events that have taken place. Solstice has left without farewell or warning. It was good to have her here while it lasted at the very least. Without her timely arrival and support this area might have taken months longer to secure, if not longer. Sadly I don't have much time to rest before Jane, Jack and I must set out once more. Currently we have decided on leaving at nightfall.

That having been noted it should be an uneventful day. After some mild celebrating with clan, a few fare wells and a quick session of hunting all should go smoothly tonight. We won't know until then though. I will be glad to be moving one step closer to having found Reaver. Though, to be honest I have no idea where to look. My best guess is that he has moved north. I have always assumed that the Queen of Stardust live somewhere near the arctic areas because the days are shorter during the winter. With it being spring I cannot be sure though, she may have begun migrating by now. This is all only speculation though. After all I know nothing of this vampire's living situation, or anything for that matter. Unless she really is Solstice. That can not be though, she would have killed me by now, but what of them calling her the queen by that name? Is it possible that once I may have come across her? No, that just could not be true. I wish Solstice had not disappeared so quickly. It would be so much easier just to ask her if she's certain of all the times we've come across one another.

Alas, the day is too young to worry about such things. It's time for me to stop worrying and relax for a while. I do not have to have a plan until tonight. Hopefully by then one will have come to me.

May 15, 2000. Continued.

We set out at dusk towards the north. My decision to do this is two fold. The first reason is as I stated prior to this I suspect that the Stardust Queen may inhabit some northern region of the world. Secondly there are larger cities to the north of this country with more massive populations and higher crime rates. This would allow her to feed her appetites with little worry of drawing attention to herself, that is if she worries about such things. So much about this woman is an enigma, and to think that I may have come across her before the apparently younger Solstice is something of a nightmare. In fact I wish that Solstice would have stayed around longer so I could question her as to when we first met. Sadly I can not, but I will do the best that I can with the resources I have at my disposal.

Jack and Jane both seemed nervous as we set out. I can not blame them for their fears. The times are still uncertain and the fact that we are back to three once again makes us a target for our enemies, though they too dwindle in numbers now. As we made our way through the woods I did my best to reassure them that this journey would come through to a positive fruition. They did not take well to my assurance but I am sure in time they will realize just how well off we are at this point. That may take precious time that we do not have in order to seize the advantage that we have. For now though our goal was to get to our discarded motorcycles to ensure travel by daylight would remain simple, quick and efficient.

As we arrived at the bikes we all realized that we had not yet fed. My preference would have included breaking into some houses for some fresh human blood. However, I have not yet had the opportunity to ensure that Jane could stop herself before killing her prey. So for perhaps the last night we made due with the animals of the forest. I sent Jack out to make a large sweep to the left and had Jane follow close behind me. Our goal was to pin a somewhat large animal in the middle of a triangular formation. The three of us slowly crept for about half a mile before we came across a doe. As it came into view I motioned to Jack to halt and had Jane do the same. I moved to finish off the triangle formation as well as to ensure this was not the one I had come across on the fourteenth. The moment I confirmed that it was indeed a different animal I signaled for the other two to move in. Carefully we all moved in on the prey until we were within four feet of the unsuspecting creature. For a moment we halted and watched as it slowly grazed on the fauna on the forest floor, slowly lowering its head grabbing a hold of a plant or some leaves and raising it as it began to chew. As its head lowered for another bite I jumped on it from behind pinning it down. It struggled for a few moments before it finally submitted to its fate. I told Jane to take first bite in order see if she was able to resist killing her prey.

Without urging she sank her fangs into its jugular vein. It began struggling again when this occurred but soon fell limp as she gorged herself. I watched carefully to see if she would cut herself off, but as I expected she did not. Gently I placed my hand on her shoulder and asked her to relinquish the frail creature and after a minute she did. She licked her lips as she backed away and Jack and I sank our fangs in our meal. Only about half the blood was left but that would be enough to sustain the two of us for a full day. Once we finished draining the dear we left its lifeless corpse strewn about in the open so that some forest creature might feast upon the remaining flesh. At this point I do not believe that Jane will be able to safely feed upon human life any time soon, but that is part of the price that we all must pay when we turn someone. This is especially true in this modern day when most humans are full of compulsion. All distractions aside soon after feeding we were back to the bikes and on the road.

We rode through the night headed north until about an hour before the break of dawn when something caught my eyes. I saw what looked to be a small fire just off to the side of the road and I felt several life forces huddled around it. Being the curious being that I am told Jack to pull to the side with me and we went in for a closer inspection. We crossed over the ditch between the road and the slightly wooded area that was perhaps a hundred feet away. As we got closer I was able to distinguish that there were five life forces. Eventually we came across their small encampment.

They were situated in a clearing with a fire in the center. The five of them were circled around the fire all asleep in bedrolls. There was a small table about five feet away from the group with a few notably old folding chairs around it. Underneath the table lay a sack with a small amount of food underneath it. My companions elected to stay back while I took a closer inspection of the camp's occupants. There were three males and two females who appeared to be in their late teens or early twenties. All of this piqued my curiosity further as to who these people and what appeared to be their living situation.

I made my way back to Jane and Jack and informed them that I wished to know more about these people. Reluctantly they agreed to stay for the remainder of the night so I could question the kids. The two of them soon went to sleep while I elected to log this day in my journal. With any luck they will soon wake and not be frightened by our sudden appearance, but nothing can be known until then.

May 16, 2000

In the latter moments of the morning twilight as I finished writing the last entry I felt a strange presence approaching. It seemed strangely familiar like the dear had a few days ago. I looked over to ensure that my companions were still asleep, and walked towards the presence. It seemed to know I was coming though. Every step I took I felt it move twice as far away. This did not hinder my pursuit but resulted in me moving faster. Sadly, it did as well until suddenly minutes before sunrise I lost all sign of it without ever having gotten close enough to see a physical sign of it. Disheartened I walked back towards the encampment, trudging most of the way there.

When I arrived the fire's embers had all but burnt out. Thinking it might be courteous to stoke the fire with fresh wood I proceeded to do so. I started by gathering some of the smaller fallen twigs and limbs from around the edge of the camp ground and angling them right above the remaining embers. After a few minutes of waiting and a little coercion on my part they caught flame. In order to keep it going strong I went in search of some larger logs, and found a fallen old tree trunk which I quickly split into sections with my sword. I brought three logs with me back to the fire, placing two on either side of it. I then proceeded to split the remaining log and placed the two of them horizontally across the logs on either side of the fire, and placed the last remaining section in similar fashion across the other two. Within minutes the middle two log sections caught fire with the top one soon following. The sleeping figures around the blaze began to stir as they warmed. Not wanting to be the first thing they saw when they awoke I moved to the table.

The first one to sit up stared at the fire holding his legs. Curiously I watched him watch the fire for a few minutes, and then as he woke the female next to him. With a groggy expression she crawled towards him, kissing him as she did so. As she pulled away her eyes widened and she jumped back, nearly landing in the fire as she did so. The male quickly turned around with a calm, yet confused look and motioned for his female companion to get behind him. I smiled and waved at the two innocently hoping that the leather trench and dark colored underclothes would make them think that I was nothing more than a passing biker or at worst some creepy goth kid. The male quickly stood and walked towards me and spoke motioning confusedly at the fire, “Did you rebuild that?”

I walked towards him my hand extended, “Yes, I figured you might be cold and might want to cook some breakfast when you woke.” He firmly gripped my hand and shook it. “Sorry, if I crashed your little party or anything my friends and I needed a place to sleep and late last night we came across this little patch of woods.” I motioned to Jack and Jane who were still asleep by the trees.

His face returned to a normal state as I explained myself, “Thank you.” he said briskly as he looked away shyly. “I am Cody, the girl standing by the fire is Caitlin, the one closest to her is Kasey, the guy laying next to her is her boyfriend Daniel and the other one is Jason. Umm... who are you guys?” He rubbed his eye and yawned.

“My name is Fireraven, don't ask it's a weird family tradition. The other two who are traveling with me are Jack and Jane. If you can't tell which is which then it's your own loss.” I joked. “So you guys out for a camping trip?”

“Yeah, yeah we've been out here for a few nights.” He said the look of confusion growing and slowly transforming into one of frustration. “What does it matter to you? Shouldn't you be off or something? I mean what does our life have to do with anything?”

I laughed at his paranoia before I spoke up again, “Sorry, I am just a curious person. I just wanted to make sure you weren't homeless or something. I mean being all alone out here without much help, I just figured I could offer some assistance,” I laughed as I walked around the campsite, “but since you're not then I'll be on my way as soon as my friends are rested and awake. After all we've been riding through the night and they are pretty tired.”

“That's cool. Sure you can stay around for a bit.” He walked back over the Caitlin and hugged her. “Why would you care if we were homeless though? Normal people don't care about shit like that. They just think people like that are crack heads or alcoholics.”

“Someone has to care, right?” I smiled and walked towards them once more. “Do you guys have any meat to eat by chance?” I started walking towards the woods, looking for an excuse to run off and grab a quick snack.

“No. We didn't bring an ice chest with us to keep it from spoiling. Not like we'd share it with you if we did.” He said as the rest of his group began stirring and getting out of their bedrolls.

“I didn't want your food. I was just gonna offer to catch a rabbit or something for you.” Without another word I ran into the woods to find me a snack and to catch them some meat. It did not take me long to find a small den with a few young hare cuddled alongside one another. There were four of them inside one female apparently the mother, the rest were all still fairly young but large enough to eat. I snatched them all up and quickly broke there necks. I piled the three smaller ones into a pile and drained the mother, discarding her corpse. Immediately after I walked back towards the camp with a grin upon my face.

When I arrived back at camp the one identified as Jason walked up to me eagerly awaiting the fresh meat. “I see your hunting went well. I haven't been able to catch a single thing in these woods. Thank you kindly stranger.” He smiled widely and reached for the soon to be food. “May I see them, I can prepare them. I do have a little more experience preparing fresh game as opposed to hunting it.”

I handed them to him without an argument, and extended my hand as a greeting. “Nice to meet you Jason, they call me Fireraven. You are Jason right?”

He nodded and began walking towards the table. “So where are you all from?” He asked as he pulled a knife out from under the table and began preparing the leverets.

“I hail from over seas. I was born in northern England. My friends are both locals to this region.” I said trying to be as honest yet inconspicuous as possible. The other males began gathering around the table to help.

“I never would have been able to tell, you don't seem to have an accent of any sort.” He laughed as he worked. “We're all locals like your friends.”

We continued to talk for some time about things after the meal was roasting on a spigot over the fire. I found out that they had all grown up in the same foster home together and that the two couples were engaged to be married. Jason was a lot more open and talkative than the rest. I assume it must be because he is the only single one in the group and lacks someone to confide in. This was good for me because it allowed me to discover more about the group. They were apparently all eighteen and lacked jobs or a family to help them. Jason told me this in secret, asking me not to inform the others that I had let their secret out. They spent some time in homeless shelters, but the constant barrage of crack heads sent them fleeing. A majority of their time has been spent camping outside during the summer living off what little food they can buy with their monthly food stamps. My heart truly went out to these people. They lived like peasants or the rugged people of the frontier. It was almost awe inspiring, these were true Americans and represented all of what it meant to be to have a rugged spirit. By the time our conversation was finished the food had finished cooking. Everyone sat down to eat while I decided to take a walk.

I returned to find that both Jane and Jack were awake. Jane ran at me and tackled me, giving me a kiss as she did so. I smiled at her and we walked back towards the rest of the group. Jack was nestled by the fire talking with Cody and Daniel, while the girls sat and gossiped. Jason was cleaning up after the meal, and I made my way to help him out. After we finished all of us gathered around the fire and began speaking about random things as we prepared to leave. I could tell the group definitely had some potential, however, I could not really use them at this time. As I was thinking this though something strange happened.

The fire suddenly shot up four or five feet for seemingly no reason. Everyone jumped back in surprise, several of us even began swearing. The heat was intense causing each of us to sweat profusely. Almost as quickly as it had erupted it died down. I was confused to say the least, the rest of the group was in a panic and had backed several feet away. A few of them took it upon themselves to argue out the cause, which was a funny site to say the least. As they debated the cause I walked closer to the blaze to determine if some form of fuel had been used to accelerate the blaze. When I find no sign of it I began feeling out the woods to see if the cause had been external. It did not take me long to find the cause this was, and almost immediately after I located him he began walking towards the camp, dressed in his usual worn brown traveling cloak. “So I have finally found you Fireraven. You are to say the least a hard man to find. Lucky for me Fauzt pointed me in your direction.”

“Bajif Ishtar I presume. Very few I know have such profound control of fire as you do, I should have known.” I walked briskly towards him. “How have you been? Has something happened that requires my attention.”

Cody stepped up towards us as the others backed off guarding the females. “What in the blazes are you? Why did you scare us like this? And what the hell is up with your names, seriously?” He was in a bit of a frenzied panic making all sorts of exaggerated motions with his hands.

“I'm sorry but I have deceived you a little.” I turned towards him calmly “My friends and I are all vampires. Not the kind that can not walk in the day, lack reflection and fear the cross, but vampires none the less. My friend here is more ancient than anything you have seen, he is what you would call an immortal. Do not be afraid he is as you might say a 'good guy'. He in particular is almost as old as the universe and predates human life. He also seeks to protect it.”

“You guys are crazy aren't you? How the hell did he do that with the fire? Are you trying to kill us?” Questions flew out of Cody's mouth like wind down the Great Plains. He began backing off with a look of fear in his eyes.

Authoritative as always Bajif walked towards the paranoid male, “Hush child.” His voice had as much authority as his walk, “I did not come here for you, I came to speak to the Fireraven. The fire trick was intended to make you flee the area momentarily. If you wish to stay, then stay. If not then I advise you pack up and leave now.” He was now staring fiercely into Cody's eyes.

While this was happening Jason made his way closer to the now shaking Cody, “Bro, just chill. I trust this Fireraven figure. Let's let them talk alright. It won't do any harm and they'll probably leave shortly after.”

“Sh, sh, sure,” he stammered and backed away gathering the rest of the teens around the campfire.

By this time Jane and Jack were by my side questioning the identity of this man. I explained to them that he was to say the least a general in what could be best explained as a war of good verses evil, a war as old as time itself. I told them of how we, much like Solstice and I, had worked together on many cases and had even been enemies at one point. They seemed genuinely excited to meet the man and everyone shook hands somewhat eagerly. Then I explained the situation behind my comrades and filled Bajif in on what had been going on with the Stardust Cabal. We talked at great length about the subject and he informed me that it was the same reason that he had come in search of me. It seems that in my time away from my Cabal the other members had decided that this situation had best been left up to me. He was pleased to see that I had taken up the cause without prompt.

The discussion eventually led in a frightening direction. In order to secure this side of the globe against the Stardust Cabal and any of their potential allies he believes that we need to establish a lasting governing body on this side of the world, similar in nature to the Five Star Cabal. He believes that being proactive will result in a shorter, more decisive victory in these lands. I still am not sure on his judgment, but after asking about the living situation of the kids, who now knew our secret, he decided that they should be the governing body. Bajif being who he is quickly talked them into it, more or less. Then again I am fairly sure anyone weighing the options of live for centuries versus die right now to keep our secret safe would have chosen life. He has told me that he will look after them during the change and train them in his ways after it has been completed.

After this less than satisfactory discussion came some good news. He had found an approximate location of where Reaver might be headed to meet Queen Solstice. According to him he caught a fleeting scent of his aura as he traveled this way from the northeastern peninsula of the United States. This means that they are more than likely stationed in the largest city in the area, New York City. With this information I will be able to find them much sooner than expected. I only hope that Solstice will not reach them first and attack them. It is in her nature to be irrational when angered, and in this case I must admit I am fearful of what may happen to her. With this knowledge in hand I reluctantly agreed to turn the teens after finding a suitable shelter.

The goal for now is to stay here for one more night. After I am properly rested we will span out in search of a cavern or abandoned building of some sort to facilitate the turning. I hope all goes well, but for now it is time for me to rest. Tomorrow will be an interesting day indeed.